By Joshua McElwee

ISTANBUL, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Pope Leo travels to Lebanon on Sunday, where he is expected to appeal for peace in a country that is a continued target of Israeli air strikes, on the second and final leg of his first overseas trip as leader of the Catholic Church.

The first U.S. pope will arrive from Turkey, where he has been visiting for four days and warned that humanity's future was at risk because of the world's unusual number of bloody conflicts and condemned violence in the name of religion.

A Dubai restaurant has opened that prides itself on having the world's "first AI chef", the latest ostentatious dive into new technology in a city obsessed with being on the cutting edge of the future.

The Emirati city has become increasingly known for its growing culinary scene, with thousands of restaurants on offer from luxurious Michelin-starred eateries to greasy spoons serving up bona fide street food from across the Middle East and Asia.

Ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied nations (OPEC+) are expected to keep current output levels unchanged when they meet for online meetings on Sunday, analysts told AFP.

The biannual ministerial meeting comes as uncertainty remains over how oil prices will develop in the near future, with traders looking for signs that indicate progress in ongoing negotiations on resolving the conflict in Ukraine, which could lead to the return of Russian crude to markets.

Pope Leo XIV wraps up a four-day trip to Turkey Sunday after a warm welcome by its tiny Christian community, before heading to Lebanon with a message of peace for the crisis-mired nation.

On his first overseas trip since being elected leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, Leo met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before travelling to Iznik for a celebration marking 1,700 years since the First Council of Nicaea, one of the early Church's most important gatherings.

By Humeyra Pamuk

WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered its diplomats worldwide to stop processing visas for Afghan nationals, according to a State Department cable seen by Reuters, effectively suspending the special immigration program for Afghans who helped the United States during its 20-year-long occupation of their home country.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The number of people confirmed killed in Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip has passed the 70,000 mark, the enclave's health ministry said on Saturday.

A total of 301 people have been added to the toll since Thursday, taking it to 70,100, the ministry added. Two died in recent Israeli strikes, the rest were identified from remains buried for some time in the rubble, according to the statement.

A prominent Tunisian activist was arrested on Saturday as hundreds protested in the capital against the curtailing of freedoms, an AFP journalist and lawyers said.

The protest in Tunis came a day after a mass appeal trial saw some 40 public figures, mainly critics of President Kais Saied, handed hefty sentences over plotting against the state.

Poet and political figure Chaima Issa, who was handed a 20-year sentence during the trial on Friday, was arrested during the rally, lawyers and witnesses said.

By Tarek Amara

TUNIS, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Tunisian police arrested prominent opposition figure Chaima Issa at a protest in the capital Tunis on Saturday to enforce a 20-year prison sentence, her lawyers said.

An appeals court handed jail terms of up to 45 years to opposition leaders, business leaders and lawyers on Friday on charges of conspiracy to overthrow President Kais Saied, in what critics said was a sign of increasingly authoritarian rule.

President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Syria's northern city of Aleppo Saturday as the country marks a year since a lightning Islamist-led offensive that eventually toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad last December.

The Islamist alliance, led by Sharaa, entered Aleppo on November 29 last year and swiftly took control of Syria's second city.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza on Saturday said more than 70,000 people have been killed since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted more than two years ago.

The milestone comes as a fragile US-brokered ceasefire largely holds, but with both sides accusing the other of violating the terms of the deal.

In a statement, Gaza's health ministry said the death toll from the war had risen to 70,100.

The ministry said that since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, 354 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire.