By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA, July 10 (Reuters) - At least one million women and girls have lost access to life-saving support within the last year due to global donor aid cuts, a new United Nations report on Friday found.

Nearly nine in 10 women’s organisations can no longer meet the needs on the ground despite a large increase in demand since January last year, following the steepest drop in aid funding on record, the U.N. Women report found.

By Michael Georgy

DUBAI, July 10, (Reuters) - Preliminary investigations into the cell behind Tuesday's bombings in Damascus, near a hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron spent the night, indicate it was affiliated with Islamic State, a senior Syrian security official said.

Two bombs exploded near the hotel, wounding 18 people and overshadowing Macron's visit — the first by a European Union head of state since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.

WHAT IS ISLAMIC STATE?

MANILA, July 10 (Reuters) - An upcoming meeting between foreign ministers of the Southeast Asian grouping ASEAN and their counterpart from Myanmar will tackle the country's civil war and its engagement with the bloc after five years in the cold, the Philippines said on Friday.

As chair of the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Philippines will lead Sunday's gathering in Bangkok, the first in-person meeting with Myanmar's top diplomat since a 2021 coup and ensuing conflict that led to the exclusion of the ruling generals from the bloc's summits.

By Parisa Hafezi and Angus McDowall

DUBAI, July 9 (Reuters) - Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was buried in the country's holiest shrine, state media said early on Friday, after huge crowds gathered for his funeral with his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei still hidden from public view.

The burial in Mashhad in northeast Iran follows a week of mass funeral processions, rallies and mourning ceremonies that has coincided with a renewed burst of conflict with the United States following weeks of truce in the four-month-old war.

MADRID, July 9 (Reuters) - Belgium's prime minister was a little surprised on landing back home from Wednesday's NATO summit in Turkey to find that he had a handgun and ammunition in his luggage.

After NATO leaders gathered for Wednesday's fractious summit in Ankara, their host, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, handed each an unusual parting gift: a vintage revolver, along with live ammunition indicating it was not just for show.

Erdogan wanted to showcase Turkey's defence industry, which has become a key export and foreign policy tool.

July 9 (Reuters) - Preliminary investigations into the cell responsible for Tuesday's bombings in Damascus have shown it was affiliated with Islamic State, a senior Syrian security official said on Thursday.

• "We were able to track down one member of the cell responsible for the July 7 Damascus bombings, and by monitoring him we identified the rest of the group's members," Ahmad al-Dalati, head of internal security in the Damascus countryside, told Syrian state-run Ekhbariya TV.

By Elwely Elwelly, Nayera Abdallah and Idrees Ali

DUBAI, July 9 (Reuters) - Iranian armed forces launched attacks on U.S. military infrastructure in Gulf states on Thursday following U.S. strikes on Iran's southern coastal and eastern provinces, further eroding a three-week-old ceasefire.

Iranian media later reported multiple explosions across southern Iran, including Bushehr, where one of the country's nuclear plants is located, along with Konarak, Choghadak and Bandar Abbas.

A U.S. official said there had been no American strikes in recent hours.

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - A group of U.S. lawmakers is urging fellow Democrats to block military spending legislation until the Senate debates proposals to deepen ties with Israel, highlighting growing unease within the party over support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.