By Janina Nuno Rios and Angelica Medina

MEXICO CITY, June 10 (Reuters) - FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended the way soccer's governing body had handled visa issues ahead of the World Cup, saying on Wednesday that it was working to find solutions but could not override government decisions.

Speaking on the eve of the tournament opener between co-hosts Mexico and South Africa, Infantino addressed concerns surrounding Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, who was barred from entering the U.S. despite having a valid visa.

WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Wednesday said it was imposing sanctions against 11 people and entities, including several based in China and Hong Kong, for supporting weapons procurement by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian military.

Nine of those designated were China- and Hong Kong-based individuals and companies that facilitated the procurement of weapons for Iran's military, and a Hong Kong-based company operating within Iran’s clandestine banking network, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement.

By Ali Sawafta

TAYBEH, West Bank, June 10 - Israeli settlers obstructed Palestinians putting out a large blaze near a Christian village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank late on Tuesday, a local priest and Palestinian civil defence firefighters said.

The incident comes amid rising strife in the West Bank, where some Western countries announced sanctions on settler groups this week over violent Israeli attacks on Palestinians.

Israeli lawmakers voted on Wednesday to advance a bill that would allow most ultra-Orthodox Jewish men to avoid military conscription, despite fierce opposition protests.

Ultra-orthodox men have largely been exempted from service throughout Israel's modern history, but the Supreme Court has repeatedly challenged that status in recent years culminating in a 2024 ruling that the government must conscript them.

WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States is going to attack Iran "very hard" if no peace deal is finalized.

"We're going to be attacking them, attacking them very hard, resuming bombing," Trump told reporters at the White House, citing Iran's downing of an Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz.

The president reiterated that Iran will be hit on Wednesday.

"We want a deal that is meaningful, we want a deal that works," Trump added about the negotiations with Iran.

BEIRUT, June 10 (Reuters) - Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 13 people on Wednesday, Lebanese security sources said, as Israel pressed its campaign against Hezbollah and the Iran-backed group claimed fresh attacks against Israeli forces in the south.

The dead included nine people killed in the village of Dayr Debba, 8 km (5 miles) east of the city of Tyre, the state-run National News Agency reported. Reuters footage showed vehicles ablaze in the southern city of Sidon after an Israeli airstrike.

VIENNA, June 10 (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors passed a U.S.-backed resolution on Wednesday telling Iran to declare its remaining enriched uranium stocks and let inspectors verify them, which could complicate Washington's talks with Tehran.

The resolution submitted by the United States, Britain, France and Germany was passed with 21 votes in favour, three against and 10 abstentions, diplomats at the closed-door meeting said. The countries opposing were Russia, China and Niger, they said, adding that Venezuela was not allowed to take part.

By Mohammad Yunus Yawar

KABUL, June 10 (Reuters) - Pakistani air strikes on three Afghan provinces killed at least 13 people, including 11 children, on Wednesday, the Afghan Taliban government said, in a renewal of a conflict that has claimed hundreds of lives this year.

At least 14 others - all of them children and women - were injured in strikes that violated Afghanistan's airspace and bombed civilian homes in the provinces of Kunar, Khost and Paktika, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said.

By Joanna Plucinska and Christina Amann

BERLIN, June 10 (Reuters) - Germany's ILA air show opened on Wednesday under the twin shadows of the Iran war and the collapse this week of a flagship Franco-German fighter jet project, clouding what is meant to be one of Europe's premier aerospace showcases.

The Berlin event, which dates back to 1909, puts a large slice of Europe's defence industry on display as companies pitch new technology to governments and military buyers.

Amnesty International accused Israel on Wednesday of an "ethnic cleansing" campaign against Bedouin and herding communities in the occupied West Bank," charges that Israel dismissed as "false and baseless".

A new report by the rights group found that the campaign was aimed at accelerating the annexation of the Palestinian territory, with these rural communities bearing the brunt of Israeli settler violence and forced displacement.