JERUSALEM, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Israel said on Tuesday it was preparing to receive more possible hostage remains from Gaza via the Red Cross and would send them for forensic tests.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office did not specify whether they were remains of the final two deceased hostages still held in the Palestinian enclave.

Those two are Israeli police officer Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak, both kidnapped during militant group Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

CAIRO, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Monday that it seized full control of Babanusa, a transport junction in the country's oil-producing south, though its rival, the Sudanese army, disputed the claim.

In a statement on Monday, the RSF said its "liberation" of Babanusa in West Kordofan state — the latest frontline in the war in Sudan — came as it repelled "a surprise attack" by the Sudanese army in what it called "a clear violation of the humanitarian truce."

KABUL, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban administration said it assured neighbouring Tajikistan on Tuesday it was ready to tighten border security and conduct joint investigations, after attacks which Dushanbe said were launched from Afghan territory killed five Chinese nationals over the past week.

In a call with his Tajik counterpart, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi expressed regret and said Kabul was prepared to boost coordination between border forces, adding that "joint measures against malicious elements are a pressing necessity."

Pope Leo XIV called for an end to hostilities in Lebanon and new approaches for peace in the Middle East before returning to Rome on Tuesday, ending his inaugural visit abroad as pontiff.

A 150,000-strong mass at Beirut's waterfront was the highlight of the trip by the head of the world's Catholics, who arrived in Lebanon on Sunday after visiting Turkey, the start of his six-day trip.

In makeshift homes lacking even the most basic necessities surrounded by piles of rubbish and flanked by dirt roads, thousands of Somalis in Yemen live in soul-crushing poverty in Aden's "Little Mogadishu".

Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country, is not a destination in itself for migrants but a way station for those leaving East Africa in the hopes of reaching the oil-rich Gulf states and working in construction or as domestic staff.

But with security along its borders tight, many struggle to make it out of Yemen.

Raghad al-Fara is struggling to rebuild her teenage life in Athens, not least because she now moves around with crutches because of injuries suffered in the Gaza war.

Evacuated from the besieged Palestinian territory in February she now lives in a shelter for refugee women. "I never thought I would survive, let alone set foot on European soil," the 15-year-old told AFP.

Raghad is one of 10 Gazan minors suffering from "complex" orthopaedic and psychological injuries, according to Heracles Moskoff, secretary general for vulnerable persons at the migration ministry.

By Joshua McElwee and Catherine Cartier

BEIRUT, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Pope Leo ends a three-day visit to Lebanon on Tuesday, wrapping up his first overseas trip as Catholic leader, during which he pleaded for peace in the Middle East and warned that humanity's future was at risk from the world's bloody conflicts.

The first U.S. pope, Leo will pray at the site of a 2020 chemical explosionat the Beirut port and lead a Catholic Mass on the city's waterfront expected to draw 100,000 people before leaving for Rome with his entourage at about 1:15 pm (1115 GMT).

Children scarred by the war in Gaza are undergoing a therapy programme using virtual reality headsets that transport the youngsters to a world far away from the destruction around them.

The VR therapy is aimed at improving the children's psychological wellbeing, with operators saying it can achieve results more quickly than traditional therapy sessions.

Inside a white tent pitched on a sandy patch of ground in Al-Zawayda, in central Gaza, excited chatter swelled as five boys roamed around a virtual world.

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.