Under the shadow of a possible war between the United States and Iran, Israelis expressed weariness at the prospect of strikes on their country but said they were ever-prepared for a regional flare-up.

"The threat of war is, for us, a kind of routine," lawyer Maya Liya Cohen told AFP in the northern port city of Haifa.

"No matter what happens, what we do, if it has anything to do with us or nothing to do with us, then we are under continuous threat," she added.

The UN nuclear watchdog stressed on Friday the "utmost urgency" of its request to verify all nuclear material in Iran, according to a confidential report seen by AFP.

Two new reports are to be discussed at an International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors' meeting next week, as the United States threatens strikes on Iran and presses its biggest military build-up in the Middle East in decades.

By Ariba Shahid

KARACHI, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Weeks after the Taliban's lightning offensive in 2021 wrested control of Afghanistan from a U.S.-led military coalition,Pakistan's then intelligence chief flew into the capital Kabul for talks, where the serving lieutenant general told a reporter: "Don't worry, everything will be okay."

Five years on, Islamabad - long seen as a patron of the Taliban - is locked in its heaviest fighting with the Islamist group, which Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif described on Friday as an "open war".

In the Iraqi mountains near Iran, an exiled Kurdish Iranian commander told AFP that whether or not the US launches strikes on Iran, he will still seek regime change in order to win self-determination for the Kurds.

Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region has long been a haven for Kurdish Iranian armed factions, which have repeatedly faced cross-border strikes from Iran.

Feb 27 (Reuters) - U.S. envoy Tom Barrack met former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the Shi'ite alliance's candidate for premier, on Friday, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Maliki has been nominated by a powerful Shi'ite bloc to return to the post, but the United States has warned it would reconsider support for Iraq if he is chosen again.

(Reporting by Muayed Hameed, Writing by Ahmed ElimamEditing by Gareth Jones)

A 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage, UK police said Friday, after pro-Palestinian graffiti was sprayed on a Winston Churchill statue in central London.

The iconic monument to Britain's World War II prime minister in Parliament Square "was graffitied with red paint" overnight, the Metropolitan Police said on X.

"Officers were on scene within two minutes of being alerted shortly after 4am (0400 GMT)," the force said.

French far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon has sparked new accusations of antisemitism after mocking the pronunciation of the name "Epstein" during a political rally in southeastern France.

Speaking at a gathering in Lyon on Thursday evening, Melenchon invoked the name of Jeffrey Epstein, after recent disclosures detailed the convicted sex offender's extensive ties to the world's rich, famous and powerful.

"I wanted to say 'Epstein', sorry, it sounds more Russian, 'Epsteen'," said the France Unbowed (LFI) leader.

By Mohammad Yunus Yawar

KABUL, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Pakistani air strikes hit a weapons depot on the western outskirts of Kabul overnight, triggering hours of secondary explosions that rattled homes across the Afghan capital and left residents fearing further violence.

The strikes were part of a sharp escalation between Pakistan and Afghanistan's Taliban authorities, with the once-close allies also trading cross-border attacks and Pakistan describing the situation as open conflict.

MOSCOW, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Russia urged Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday to halt cross-border attacks immediately and resolve their differences by diplomatic means.

Russia is the only country to officially recognise the Taliban government of Afghanistan, and also has good relations with Pakistan.

"Of course, the direct military clashes that have taken place do not bode well. Therefore we hope that they will cease as soon as possible... Like everyone else, we are closely monitoring this situation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

KABUL/ISLAMABAD, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban "successfully conducted" air strikes using drones to hit military targets in Pakistan, its defence ministry and a government spokesperson said on Friday, as fighting between the neighbours continued.

Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Pakistani Taliban militants had tried to use drones against targets in Pakistan but they were brought down by anti-drone systems and there was "no damage to life".