By Laila Bassam, Maya Gebeily, Tom Perry and Samia Nakhoul
BEIRUT, April 30 (Reuters) - A growing rift between top Lebanese officials has thrown a wrench into Saudi efforts to help Lebanon's leaders forge a united position over historic negotiations with Israel, Lebanese sources and foreign officials told Reuters on Thursday.
By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump faces a deadline on Friday to end the Iran war or make the case to Congress for extending it, but the date is most likely to pass without altering the course of a conflict that has lapsed into a standoff over shipping routes.
Ending the war appears highly unlikely.
By Sam Tobin and Muvija M
LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed to take action to protect the Jewish community in Britain, acknowledging that Jews were scared a day after two men were stabbed in north London following a spate of antisemitic attacks in the British capital.
Starmer, who has faced severe criticism from some in the Jewish community for the government's response, promised more police in Jewish areas, a crackdown on those spreading antisemitism, and new legislation to deal with state-sponsored threats from the likes of Iran.
The international jury of the upcoming Venice Biennale Art Exhibition resigned Thursday in a row over the organisation's decision to allow Russia to participate in this year's event.
The resignations came a week after the jury said it would exclude countries from awards if the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for war crimes against their leaders -- meaning Russia and Israel.
The exhibition is due to open on May 9.
BEIJING, April 30 (Reuters) - China and the U.S. should prepare for "important high-level exchanges", Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a call with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, while warning the Taiwan issue is "the biggest point of risk" for relations.
"The Taiwan issue concerns China's core interests," Wang told Rubio, adding that the U.S. should "keep its promises and make the right choices in order to open up new space for China-U.S. cooperation and make due efforts for world peace", an official summary of the call released by Wang's ministry showed.
Dozens of residents and local officials from southern Lebanon gathered in Beirut on Thursday to protest Israel's destruction of their villages, which has been ongoing despite a fragile ceasefire.
Before and after the truce agreed on April 17 in the war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has been carrying out demolitions in the south and preventing the return of residents to more than 50 villages.
"We can't go back. It's been bulldozed -- basically there's nothing to go back to," Ibrahim Hamza, the mayor of the coastal town of Naqura, told AFP.
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is cutting funding for the breakaway LIV Golf league after the 2026 season, a spokesperson from the fund told AFP on Thursday.
The announcement came hours after LIV Golf, founded in 2021 as a rival to the PGA Tour, said it was seeking to secure "long-term financial partners".
It has reportedly cost PIF over $5 billion so far to operate the series after signing many of the world's top players including Major winners Bryson DeChambeau and Spaniard Jon Rahm.
By Mushtaq Ali
TORKHAM BORDER, Pakistan, April 30 (Reuters) - Saleha Bibi, 40, was one of hundreds of Afghan refugees waiting at the Pakistani border on Thursday to be repatriated to Afghanistan - a country she has never seen - as fears rise for their safety due to fresh fighting between the neighbours.
Islamabad wants all Afghan nationals to leave the country except for those with valid visas and has expelled more than 2 million out of 3 million back to their home country since 2023. Many are second- and third-generation refugees who fled violence at home in the 1980s.
By Vladimir Soldatkin and Anton Kolodyazhnyy
MOSCOW, April 30 (Reuters) - Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday that the OPEC+ group of leading oil producers would continue working together despite the departure of the United Arab Emirates, Russian news agencies reported.
According to the reports, Novak said he did not expect an oil price war to emerge following the UAE's exit given a global oil deficit.
TEL AVIV, April 30 (Reuters) - A vessel carrying grain that Ukraine says was stolen from areas occupied by Russia will not unload in Israel, Ukraine said on Thursday, after Kyiv requested Israel to seize the cargo.
Ukraine's prosecutor general, Ruslan Kravchenko, said on the Telegram app that the vessel, Panormitis, left Israel's territorial waters and departed into neutral waters following "a range of procedural measures taken by Ukraine".
