A Kurdish militant picks his way along a switchback road in Iraq's mountains before pulling over to alert his comrades in a nearby hidden bunker that they are about to have company.

After calling from a phone dangling from a tree, he leads a team of AFP journalists into a bunker under the Qandil mountains, where they have been granted rare access to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rear base in northern Iraq.

"A peace process doesn't mean leaving the mountains," says Serda Mazlum Gabar, a 47-year-old commander with her long, rust-coloured hair and unfailing smile.

More than 120,000 people are expected to attend Pope Leo XIV's mass in Beirut on Tuesday, the final day of his Lebanon visit and a chance to pay his respects at the site of the huge 2020 port explosion.

The pontiff arrived from Turkey on Sunday on his inaugural visit abroad as pope and brought a message of hope, particularly to young people in Lebanon, whose faith in their beleaguered country has dwindled.

His visit brought a welcome distraction to a land still reeling from a war with Israel last year, with many fearing a renewal of hostilities.

Dozens of oil tankers suspected of smuggling contraband crude for Russia and Iran have been using a beachside office in the tropical South Pacific to cover their tracks, an AFP analysis of sanctions data has revealed.

Nestled next to a pizza shop in the far-flung Cook Islands is the modest headquarters of one of the fastest-growing shipping registries in the world.

Without ever setting foot in the palm-fringed microstate, foreign ship owners can pay Maritime Cook Islands to sail under its star-studded flag.

The United States has meddled for decades in elections around the world. But no modern president has done so as brazenly as Donald Trump.

Forget shady CIA-hatched plots or surreptitious media campaigns. Trump has openly called on other countries' electorates to vote for his right-wing friends, often deploying his favorite tool of social media.

Most recently, Trump on his Truth Social platform endorsed Honduran right-wing candidate Nasry Asfura as "the only real friend of Freedom" and vowed to work with him. Asfura held a narrow lead after voting Sunday.

Dec 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of sustainment for F-16 jets and related equipment to Bahrain for an estimated cost of $455 million, the Pentagon said on Monday.

The principal contractors for the sale will be General Electric Aerospace and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, the Pentagon said in a statement.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil)

In a Beirut square that was once a physical embodiment of Lebanon's sectarian rifts, Christian and Muslim leaders united around Pope Leo XIV on Monday as he urged them to work for peace in their divided nation.

Lebanon, whose political system has long been based on religious balance, suffered through years of sectarian conflict, and faith leaders at Monday's interreligious meeting emphasised the importance of unity and coexistence.

By Brad Brooks

Dec 1 (Reuters) - The surviving National Guardsman shot by a gunman last week near the White House gave medical personnel a thumbs up when asked if he could hear them and also wiggled his toes in response, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey said on Monday.

Morrisey said that Andrew Wolfe, 24, one of two West Virginia National Guard members shot on Wednesday, remained in serious condition.

"Andrew is still fighting for his life," Morrisey told reporters at a news conference. "Andrew needs prayers."

Iran has sentenced Palme d'Or-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi in absentia to one year in prison and a travel ban over "propaganda activities" against the country, his lawyer told AFP on Monday.

The sentence includes a two-year travel ban and prohibition of Panahi from membership in any political or social groups, lawyer Mostafa Nili told AFP, adding that they would file an appeal.

Nili said the charges against Panahi were engaging in "propaganda activities" against the state but did not elaborate. "Mr. Panahi is outside Iran right now," he added.

Dec 1 (Reuters) - Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, the prime minister’s office said, shortly after Trump wrote on social media that Israel should maintain dialogue with Syria.

Netanyahu's office said they discussed disarming Palestinian militant group Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip. They also discussed Israel establishing ties with countries that do not recognise it.

Trump also invited Netanyahu to meet at the White House in "the near future", the prime minister's office said, without specifying a date.

The president of the International Criminal Court and key European members on Monday issued a defiant declaration of the tribunal's independence in the face of US sanctions against several of its top officials.

Opening an annual meeting that brought together representatives from the countries that are part of the ICC, Tomoko Akane said: "Let me be explicit. We never accept any kind of pressure from anyone."