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Iran's Khamenei says ICC warrant for Netanyahu 'not enough'

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that a war crimes case against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Gaza war was insufficient and that he deserved a "death sentence".

In his first remarks since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu last week, Khamenei told a Tehran meeting that it was "not enough".

His country, Israel's arch nemesis, backs armed movements in the region including Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack sparked the war.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei greeting the crowd during a meeting with Basij paramilitaries in Tehran

Donkeys offer Gazans lifeline amid war shortages

Amina Abu Maghasib's livelihood rests on one animal: a donkey that pulls the cart she uses to transport people around Gaza, where more than a year of war has led to a widespread shortage of fuel for cars.

"Before the war, I used to sell milk and yoghurt, and the factory used to take the milk from me," she said from the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah, holding reins in one hand and a rubber stick in the other that she uses to manoeuvre her cart.

"Now, I have no income other than the donkey and the cart."

The United States last month warned Israel to boost aid to Gaza or risk a cut to American military support

Concern as climate talks stalls on fossil fuels pledge

The failure of UN climate negotiations to double down on a global pledge to move away from planet-heating fossil fuels on Sunday was decried by experts as a "worrying" setback to global progress on curbing warming.

Nearly 200 nations spent much of COP29 in Azerbaijan locking horns over a tough-fought finance pact that was finally approved in the early hours of Sunday.

But countries also clashed bitterly over how to build on a landmark pledge at last year's climate talks to "transition away" from fossil fuels.

Observers said COP29 in Baku made virtually no progress on tackling the source of global warming

Israel launches wave of strikes on south Beirut: Lebanon state media

Lebanon's state media reported a slew of Israeli air strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday, after the Israeli military posted evacuation calls online for parts of the Hezbollah bastion.

AFPTV footage showed smoke billowing above the area on Sunday evening, following earlier raids in the afternoon.

AFP journalists in the city and its outskirts heard loud explosions, with car alarms going off throughout one Beirut street.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli air strike in Beirut's southern suburbs

With destruction at Lebanon border, Israel could seek buffer zone: experts

Israel appears to be trying to create a buffer zone in south Lebanon to remove the threat from Hezbollah but its effectiveness in preventing cross-border attacks remains to be seen, observers say.

Israel began heavily bombarding south Lebanon in September, escalating its months-long battle against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group and later sending in ground troops.

An official in south Lebanon said more than a dozen border villages have been two-thirds destroyed, while data analysis also points to broad destruction in the frontier area.

Israel began heavily bombarding south Lebanon in September, escalating its months-long battle against Hezbollah

Germany goes nuts for viral pistachio chocolate

When Ali Fakhro lays out a row of pistachio-filled chocolate bars in the morning at his bakery in Berlin, he knows they will be gone in a matter of hours.

Inspired by the viral success of the crunchy delicacy known as "Dubai chocolate", Fakhro, 32, hunted down a recipe and began making his own version two months ago.

"On the first day I made 20 bars, but they went fast. The next day, I made 50 -- all gone too," he said.

So-called Dubai chocolate was invented in 2021 by British-Egyptian entrepreneur Sarah Hamouda, who is based in Dubai.

Berlin baker Ali Fakhro has created his own version of the viral Dubai chocolate

Israel, Hezbollah in heavy exchanges of fire despite EU ceasefire call

Israel struck Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold on Sunday as Lebanese state media reported intense fighting in the border area and Israel's military said around 250 projectiles were fired at its territory.

The heavy exchanges of fire came despite an immediate Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire call from top EU diplomat Josep Borrell while on a visit to Lebanon Sunday.

The Israeli military said Iran-backed Hezbollah fired around 250 projectiles into Israel during the day, one of the war's highest daily figures.

Smoke rises and a fireball erupts from the site of Israeli air strikes that targeted Beirut's southern suburbs

Iran says will hold nuclear talks with France, Germany, UK on Friday

Iran said on Sunday that it would hold nuclear talks in the coming days with the three European countries that initiated a censure resolution against it adopted by the UN's atomic watchdog.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of Iran, France, Germany and the United Kingdom would take place on Friday, without specifying a venue.

The UN nuclear watchdog's board of governors will this week discuss a resolution critical of Iran

Israel records 250 launches from Lebanon as Hezbollah targets Tel Aviv, south

Israel's military said Hezbollah fired around 250 projectiles into its territory from Lebanon on Sunday, with the militants saying their attacks targeted the Tel Aviv area and Israel's south.

The Iran-backed group said in a statement that it had "launched, for the first time, an aerial attack using a swarm of attack drones on the Ashdod naval base" in southern Israel.

Residents in Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv inspect the damage after rockets were fired from Lebanon

UAE arrests three after Israeli rabbi killed

The United Arab Emirates said on Sunday it had arrested three suspects in the murder of an Israeli rabbi, which Israel has called an anti-Semitic attack.

"The ministry of interior announced that the UAE authorities have arrested in record time the three perpetrators involved in the murder" of Tzvi Kogan, a statement carried by the official WAM news agency said.

The ministry described Kogan as "a Moldovan national according to his identification documents at the time of entry into the UAE, where he lived as a resident".

The oil-rich UAE opened an interfaith centre last year in Abu Dhabi housing a mosque, a church and a synagogue