In a fitness studio in Saudi Arabia, dozens of women sway to Arabic music as they practise belly dancing -- an activity that many feel compelled to keep secret.

Despite their enthusiasm, none of them would give their real name or show their faces on camera, underlining the stigma and cultural prejudices surrounding the ancient dance.

In Arab communities, belly dancing has played many roles. It is a form of artistic expression, popular entertainment and a staple of classic Egyptian cinema.

(Reuters) -Russian Security Council secretary Sergei Shoigu arrived in Cairo on Sunday leading a large delegation of senior arms and nuclear officials for military talks with Egypt's leadership, RIA news agency reported.

Shoigu is due to meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt's national security adviser, foreign and defence ministers, as well as other senior security and intelligence officials, RIA reported.

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The World Bank backs language in a U.S.-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution on Gaza that would authorize a two-year mandate for a transitional governance body,according to a letter to the United States seen by Reuters.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's influential son-in-law, Jared Kushner, arrived in Israel on Sunday for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on implementing the U.S. plan to end the Gaza war, a source familiar with the matter said.

Kushner was expected to meet with Netanyahu on Monday, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity as the meeting had not been formally announced. The White House and Netanyahu's office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

As he fled the Sudanese city of El-Fasher in terror, Hassan Osman said he saw ethnic attacks by paramilitary forces, with civilians targeted for their tribe and skin colour.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been at war with the army since April 2023, captured the last military stronghold in western Darfur on October 26.

Reports of mass killings, ethnic violence, abductions and sexual assaults have since emerged.

AFP spoke to three survivors of the battle for El-Fasher, who are now seeking shelter in the nearby town of Tawila.

CAIRO (Reuters) -Israel on Sunday received the remains of a deceased hostage held in Gaza that Palestinian militant group Hamas said were of an Israeli soldier killed in the territory more than a decade ago.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement the remains were handed over to Israeli forces in the Palestinian territory by the Red Cross.

There has not yet been formal identification.

Hamas' armed wing had said it would hand over the body of Hadar Goldin, a military officer killed in an ambush in Gaza during the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.

Israel said the remains it received on Sunday from Hamas were those of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, an Israeli officer killed more than a decade ago in the 2014 Gaza war.

Goldin was the 24th deceased hostage whose remains have been returned by Hamas since the start of the ceasefire on October 10 that has halted the latest war in Gaza, which broke out in October 2023.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said forensic experts had confirmed the remains were of Goldin.

By Helen Coster and James Oliphant

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Zohran Mamdani’s election as New York’s next mayor exposed a deepening rift between traditional Democratic Jewish voters and younger progressives — one that could reshape politics for years in the metropolitan area with the world’s largest Jewish population outside Israel.

Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, handily defeated Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic former governor of New York who ran as an independent, while beating back accusations of antisemitism over his support of Palestinians in the conflict in Gaza.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turkey's foreign and defence ministers and intelligence chief plan to travel to Pakistan this week to discuss its stop-start talks with Afghanistan over a ceasefire in place in South Asia, President Tayyip Erdogan said.

According to an official readout on Sunday of his comments on a return flight from Baku, where he met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Erdogan said the tripartite visit aim to seal a permanent ceasefire and peace between the nations as soon as possible.

By Jonathan Spicer

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -The United States seeks to take advantage of a "moment" in Lebanon in which it can cut Iranian funding to Hezbollah and press the group to disarm, the U.S. Treasury Department's top sanctions official said.

In a late Friday interview, John Hurley, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said Iran has managed to funnel about $1 billion to Hezbollah this year despite a raft of Western sanctions that have battered its economy.