France's ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy at an appeals trial Tuesday said he was "innocent", rejecting charges he had sought Libyan financing for his 2007 election in exchange for helping improve Tripoli's image after deadly bombings.

A lower court in September found the right-wing politician, who was president from 2007 to 2012, guilty of seeking to acquire funding from Muammar Gaddafi's Libya for the campaign that saw him elected and sentenced him to five years behind bars.

On Algeria's sparkling Mediterranean coast, the city of Annaba is teeming with excitement as the one-time home of Saint Augustine readies for the country's first visit by a Catholic pontiff.

For the city's small Christian community, Pope Leo XIV's visit is a powerful nod of recognition, and at the Basilica of Saint Augustine, preparations are well underway, overseen by rector Father Fred Wekesa.

By Christine Chen

SYDNEY, April 7 (Reuters) - Australia's most decorated soldier was arrested on Tuesday and charged with five counts of war crime murders relating to the killing of unarmed civilians while on deployment in Afghanistan.

Police said a 47-year-old former Australian Defence Force (ADF) member had been arrested at Sydney Airport. Court records named the man as Ben Roberts-Smith.

ROME, April 7 (Reuters) - The Iran war has put U.S. global leadership on the line, Italy's Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said, expressing fear about the "madness" of nuclear escalation.

Like some other NATO allies reluctant to join U.S. President Donald Trump's attacks on Iran, Italy last week denied permission for U.S. military aircraft to land at the Sigonella air base in Sicily en route to the Middle East.

"This war is also putting the United States at risk in its global leadership," Crosetto told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published on Tuesday.

The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- 'Whole civilization will die' -

President Donald Trump warned "a whole civilization will die" if Iran does not heed his ultimatum to accept US war demands by 0000 GMT Wednesday or see its infrastructure destroyed.

"I don't want that to happen, but it probably will," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

- Kharg island strikes -

US-Israeli strikes hit Kharg island, where Iran's main oil export terminal is located, Iranian media reported.

By Tom Balmforth and John Irish

LONDON/PARIS, April 7 (Reuters) - Russian satellites have made dozens of detailed imagery surveys of military facilities and critical sites across the Middle East to help Iran strike U.S. forces and other targets, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment.

The conclusions, reviewed by Reuters, also found that Russian and Iranian hackers were collaborating in the cyber domain. They represent the most detailed account yet of how Russia has provided secret support to Iran since Israel and the U.S. launched their assault on February 28.

The UN Security Council is expected to vote Tuesday on a watered-down resolution calling for the unblocking of the Strait of Hormuz -- far from the sponsoring Gulf countries' initial goal of obtaining clearance to free it by force.

The vote is expected at 11:00 am (1500 GMT), though the outcome is not certain. The text in question has been diluted in recent days in the hope of avoiding rejection.

A draft seen by AFP on Monday no longer mentions authorization to use force -- even defensively.

DUBAI/WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) - Iran and Israel traded attacks on Tuesday as Tehran defiantly refused to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and accept a ceasefire deal on the eve of a deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump to agree to his demands or get "taken out."

Iran has rejected a U.S. proposal brokered by Pakistan for an immediate ceasefire and the lifting of its effective blockade of the strait, followed by talks on a broader peace settlement within 15 to 20 days, according to a source aware of the plan.

Iran has freed a Japanese national held since January, Tokyo said Tuesday, with Kyodo News reporting however that the individual is not allowed to leave the Islamic republic.

The Japanese news agency also reported, citing unnamed sources within the government in Tokyo, that the person is believed to be the Tehran bureau chief of broadcaster NHK.

"The Japanese embassy in Iran has confirmed that a Japanese national who was detained by Iranian authorities on January 20 was released on April 6 local time," government spokesman Minoru Kihara said.

By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump was on the verge of a crisis in the Iran war,faced with the rare instance of an American airman shot down and stranded deep inside enemy territory.

Then, the airman's daring Easter weekend rescue gave the U.S. president the chance to quickly flip the script.