ATHENS (Reuters) -Greece said on Thursday it had agreed with Egypt on the future of St Catherine's Monastery at the foot of Egypt's Mount Sinai, one of the world's oldest sites of Christian worship whose status had led to a diplomatic spat between the two countries.

Athens had expressed concern about plans by Egypt to develop a tourism project around the site, where by Biblical tradition Moses received the Ten Commandments. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is still houses Greek Orthodox monks.

After two agonising years of uncertainty following their son's abduction to Gaza, Israeli soldier Tamir Nimrodi's parents finally laid him to rest Thursday, after his body was returned under a ceasefire with Hamas.

Nimrodi, 18 at the time of Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023, was doing his military service at a base near the Erez Crossing into Gaza when he was seized.

Since then, he was one of the few hostages for whom no proof of life had been given.

By John Irish

PARIS (Reuters) -France condemned on Thursday the lengthy prison sentencesgiven to two of its citizens for espionage, saying the charges were unfounded and the punishment arbitrary.

Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris have been detained since 2022, among dozens of foreign and dual nationals held by Iran in recent years, often on spy-related charges.

Rights groups and Western nations say they are being used as bargaining chips, which Iran denies.

The lives of a French couple held by Iran for more than three years and who this week were handed lengthy jail sentences for espionage are at risk, their families warned Thursday, as France condemned their conviction on "baseless" charges.

Cecile Kohler, 41, and Jacques Paris, 72, were arrested in May 2022 and have been detained ever since. Their current location is unknown after they were moved from Tehran's Evin prison in the wake of the Israeli strike on the facility in the June war.

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain is facing an escalating threat from hostile states such as Russia, Iran, and China while the terrorism risk is "huge" with al Qaeda and Islamic State seeking to incite would-be attackers, the UK's domestic spy chief said on Thursday.

MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said there had been a 35% increase in the number of people being investigated over state threat activity, saying hostile nations were consistently descending into the "ugly" methods usually employed by terrorists.

A former Israeli hostage has said that all Gaza captives could have returned home "a long time ago", as relatives of newly released hostages described the torment endured by their loved ones.

Arbel Yehud was held in captivity for nearly 500 days before being freed earlier this year under a previous Gaza truce.

She spoke on Wednesday at a press conference alongside families of newly freed hostages, including her partner Ariel Cunio, released this week along with the remaining living captives.

"We could have brought them back a long time ago," Yehud said.

By Saeed Shah

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Hanging over the recent eruption of fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the most serious clash between the neighbours in decades, is the spectre of a militant leader Islamabad accuses of directing near-daily attacks on its soil.

An uneasy ceasefire took hold on Wednesday, but Pakistan’s main grievance endures: the presence of Noor Wali Mehsud in Afghanistan, along with his top lieutenants.

Hamas handed over to Israel the remains of one more hostage on Friday night, after insisting it was committed to returning all the dead captives still unaccounted for under Gaza's ruins after two years of war.

"Israel received, via the Red Cross, the coffin of a deceased hostage who was returned" to its security forces in Gaza and would be identified at a medical analysis centre in Israel, the prime minister's office said in a statement.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Dozens of people have been killed in airstrikes and ground fighting between South Asian neighbours Pakistan and Afghanistan this month - their deadliest confrontation since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021.

As the former allies seek to resolve the crisis during a 48-hour ceasefire that began at 1300 GMT on Wednesday, here is a look at how their military forces and arsenals compare, according to data from the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

OVERVIEW

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Alexander Cornwell

CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel said on Thursday it was preparing for the reopening of Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt to let Palestinians in and out, but set no date as it traded blame with Hamas over violations of the U.S.-mediated ceasefire.

A row over the return of bodies of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza retains the potential to upend the truce along with other major planks of the plan yet to be resolved, including disarmament of militants and Gaza's future governance.