(Reuters) -The armed wings of Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said on Thursday they would hand over the body of an Israeli hostage at 8 p.m. local time (1800 GMT).

If the transfer takes place, the bodies of three hostages will still be held in Gaza.

Islamic Jihad, which is allied with Hamas and also seized hostages during the October 7, 2023, attack that precipitated the Gaza war, said the body was recovered in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

One bucket at a time, Palestinian workers cleared sand and crumbling mortar from the remains of an former medieval fortress turned museum in Gaza City, damaged by two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

A dozen workers in high visibility jackets worked by hand to excavate the bombarded buildings that remain of the Pasha Palace Museum -- which reputedly once housed Napoleon Bonaparte during a one-night stay in Gaza -- stacking stones to be reused in one pile, and rubble to be discarded in another.

Following Iraq's parliamentary election this week, the complex and often lengthy task of choosing the country's next leader is set to begin.

Incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani claimed victory for his coalition after preliminary results showed it was the largest bloc -- though it still falls short of the majority needed to form a government.

Sudani now faces the tough quest of securing support from other parties, mostly from the Shiite majority, in his bid for a second term.

By Alessandro Parodi

(Reuters) -French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Thursday there was a high chance he would visit Algeria, hailing the north African country's release of writer Boualem Sansal as a glimmer of hope that relations between the two nations could be mended.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Wednesday pardoned the French-Algerian writer who was arrested a year ago and sentenced in March to five years in jail for undermining national unity. The case strained already difficult relations between Algeria and its colonial-era master France.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Thursday that both suicide bombers involved in the attacks in the country this week were Afghan nationals.

(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Writing by Surbhi Misra; Editing by YP Rajesh)

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's defence ministry said on Thursday it was too early to say what caused the crash this week of a military cargo plane in Georgia in which 20 soldiers died, and inspections continue.

The C-130 cargo aircraft had left Azerbaijan for Turkey and crashed on Tuesday, an incident marking the NATO member's highest military death toll since 2020.

ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey's main expectation from a planned International Stabilisation Force in Gaza is for it to provide guarantees that the fragile ceasefire will last, its Defence Ministry said on Thursday.

NATO member Turkey has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel's devastating two-year assault on Gaza, calling it a genocide. It has emerged as a critical player and mediator in ceasefire efforts, voicing a desire to join the stabilisation force despite Israel's repeated objections.

By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI (Reuters) -On Tehran's bustling streets, signs of change are unmistakable. Women walk unveiled in jeans and sneakers, men and women linger together in cafés where Western music hums softly, and couples stroll hand-in-hand — subtle acts that chip away at the rigid social codes that have long defined the Islamic Republic.

But beneath the surface, a darker reality is unfolding. Iran's clerical rulers are intensifying a crackdown on political dissent to instil fear and prevent unrest, four activists inside Iran told Reuters.

By Peter Hobson and Valerie Volcovici

CANBERRA/BELEM, Brazil (Reuters) - Australia risks undermining efforts to establish itself as a leader in the green energy transition and letting down its vulnerable Pacific island neighbours if its bid to host next year's biggest climate summit fails, diplomats and analysts say.

Australia was long considered the front-runner to hold the COP31 conference, aiming to bolster its ambitions to become "a renewable energy superpower" and highlight issues faced by Pacific island nations which it plans to co-host the conference with.

At least $50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: that is the king's ransom paid two weeks ago to jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law.

Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, known by its Arabic acronym JNIM, has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of "economic jihad".