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Trump says he plans to name Gaza Board of Peace early next year

WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - ​U.S. President ​Donald Trump ⁠said on Wednesday that an announcement about ​which ‍world leaders will ​serve on the Gaza Board of Peace ⁠should be made early next year.

Trump told reporters during an economic event in ​the ⁠White ⁠House Roosevelt Room that a variety of leaders want ‌to be on ​the board, which was established under a ‍Gaza plan that set up ‌a fragile ‌ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; ⁠Editing by Chris Reese)

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump  gestures next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, Israel, October 13, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

Iceland to boycott 2026 Eurovision in protest of go-ahead for Israel

COPENHAGEN, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Iceland will not take ​part in the 2026 ​Eurovision Song Contest, the country's public ⁠broadcaster RUV said on Wednesday, after organiser the European Broadcasting Union last week cleared Israel's ​participation.

The decision to allow Israel ‍to take part in ​the next Eurovision, which will be held in Vienna in May, earlier prompted Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Slovenia ⁠to withdraw in protest, citing Israel's conduct in the Gaza war.

FILE PHOTO: A photographer takes a picture of a TV screen in Wiener Stadthalle, the venue of next year's Eurovision in Vienna, Austria, November 18, 2025. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

What's at stake as Yemeni separatists gain ground?

UAE-backed south Yemeni separatists have taken control of vast new areas, rattling the anti-Houthi government and threatening to further divide a country fractured by more than a decade of civil war.

Yemen is already split between the Iran-backed Houthis who control much of the north and a fractious patchwork of anti-rebel groups in the internationally recognised government.

Supporters of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council wave flags of South Yemen, which unified with the north in 1990, in the coastal port city of Aden

At least 22 killed in collapse of two buildings in Moroccan city of Fez

By Ahmed Elimam and Ahmed El Jechtimi

RABAT, Dec 10 (Reuters) - At least 22 people were ​killed and 16 others injured overnight when two ​adjacent buildings collapsed in Fez, one of Morocco's oldest cities, the prosecutor said on Wednesday.One building was ⁠unoccupied, while the second was hosting an Aqiqah, a traditional Muslim celebration marking the birth of a child, the Fez prosecutor said in a statement.

The prosecutor said the death toll ​was preliminary and that an investigation has been opened.

Rescuers work at the site of the collapse of two buildings in Fes, Morocco, December 10, 2025. REUTERS/Said Echarif

Collapse of two buildings in Morocco's Fes kills 22

The collapse of two buildings killed 22 people in the northern Moroccan city of Fes, authorities said Wednesday, in the deadliest accident of its kind in the kingdom in recent years.

The Fes prosecutor's office said in a statement the collapse occurred after 11:00 pm (2200 GMT), with women and children among the dead and sixteen people injured.

Locals told AFP the buildings did not meet standards as authorities only allow two-storey buildings in that area, but the two buildings had four floors each.

Israeli Druze leader seeks US security guarantees for Syrian minority

By Olivia Le Poidevin and Suleiman Al-Khalidi

GENEVA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Israeli Druze leader Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif ​urged the United States to guarantee the security ​of the Druze community in Syria to prevent a recurrence of intense violence earlier this year in ⁠Sweida, a Druze-majority province in Sunni-dominated Syria.

Leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, speaks with Reuters at his house in Julis, northern Israel July 28, 2025. REUTERS/Ali Sawafta

Amnesty accuses Hamas of crimes against humanity on Oct 7 and afterwards

Amnesty International on Thursday accused Hamas and its allies for the first time of crimes against humanity during and after their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, with the Palestinian militant group rejecting the report as "lies".

The findings also drew criticism from Israel, which accused Amnesty of bias and of failing to give a full accounting of the crimes committed during the attack, which sparked the Gaza war.

Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 was the deadliest day in the country's modern history

Bulgarian court rejects Lebanon's extradition request for Russian over Beirut blast

By Fedja Grulovic

SOFIA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - A Bulgarian court has ​rejected Lebanon's request to extradite a ​Russian shipowner linked to the 2020 Beirut port blast, citing ⁠insufficient security guarantees from Lebanese authorities.

Igor Grechushkin, a Cyprus-based Russian businessman whose vessel transported the explosive material that detonated at ​Beirut port in August 2020, killing more than ‍220 people, was detained in ​Bulgaria in September for possible extradition to Lebanon, where he is wanted over his role in the disaster.

Igor Grechushkin, a Russian businessman based in Cyprus, is escorted by police before the start of his trial on the possible extradition to Lebanon, in Sofia, Bulgaria, December 10, 2025. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

Israel approves nearly 800 housing units in three West Bank settlements

JERUSALEM, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Israel has given final approval for ​764 housing units to be ​built in three settlements in the occupied West Bank, ⁠Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Wednesday.

The ultra-nationalist Smotrich, who opposes the creation of a Palestinian state, said that ​since the beginning of his term in ‍late 2022, some 51,370 housing ​units have been approved by the government's Higher Planning Council in the West Bank, territory Palestinians seek for a future state.

FILE PHOTO: Excavators expand an Israeli bypass road connecting Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank with Jerusalem, near Ramallah in the West Bank, September 29, 2025. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/ File Photo

Egypt switches off Liverpool after Salah fallout

At a cafe in a bustling Cairo neighbourhood, Liverpool games once drew wall-to-wall crowds, but with Mohamed Salah off the pitch, his Egyptian fans would now rather play cards or quietly doomscroll than watch the Reds play.

Salah, one of the world's greatest football stars, delivered an unusually sharp rebuke of manager Arne Slot after he was left on the bench for three consecutive games.

Adored by fans as the "Egyptian king", Salah told reporters he had been "thrown under the bus" by the club he has called home for seven-and-a-half years.

Cafegoers in Cairo would rather play cards than watch Liverpool without Mohamed Salah