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Crespo's Al Ain beat Yokohama 5-1 to win Asian Champions League

Hernan Crespo's Al Ain steamrollered 10-man Yokohama F-Marinos 5-1 in the Asian Champions League final return leg to lift the trophy for the second time in their history on Saturday.

The hosts trailed 2-1 from the away fixture but two goals from Soufiane Rahimi, a Kaku penalty and Kodjo Laba's late double ensured a 6-3 aggregate victory after Yokohama goalkeeper William Popp saw red just before half-time.

Al Ain, the oil-rich United Arab Emirates' most successful club, won the inaugural Champions League final in 2003 and were runners-up in 2005 and 2016.

Soufiane Rahimi scored twice as Al Ain won the Asian Champions League trophy for the second time

Iran jails father of young man executed over protests

Iranian authorities have jailed a father who campaigned unsuccessfully for clemency for his 22-year-old son after he was sentenced to death in connection with 2022 protests, his lawyer said Saturday.

Mashallah Karami was sentenced to six years in prison by a Revolutionary Court in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj on charges of illegally organising gatherings and collecting donations, his lawyer Ali Sharifzadeh Ardakani said on X, adding that the verdict had "flaws" and would be appealed.

Activists accuse Iranian authorities of harassment

Iran director's identity was hidden even from his actress

A hard-hitting Iranian film about the country's women-led protests that has wowed Cannes was kept so secret that even its star didn't know who was making it for several months, she told the festival on Saturday.

"The Seed of the Sacred Fig" has blown away critics at the Cannes Film Festival with its powerful depiction of a family torn apart by the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests that erupted in Iran in 2022.

It is considered a frontrunner for an award at the closing ceremony later on Saturday.

Setareh Maleki (L) with director Mohammad Rasoulof (C) and co-star Mahsa Rostami

Italy to resume funding for UN agency for Palestinian refugees

Italy said Saturday it would resume funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), as Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa made a visit to Rome.

"Italy has decided to resume financing specific projects intended for assistance to Palestinian refugees but only after rigorous controls that guarantee that not even a penny risks ending up supporting terrorism," Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.

Mohammed Mustafa was on his first trip to Europe since being appointed by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in March

Israel strikes Rafah after UN court orders halt to offensive

Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded Rafah, after the government dismissed an order by the top UN court to halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city.

At the same time, questions remained over the resumption of truce talks despite renewed international efforts aimed at securing a prisoner-hostage exchange and ceasefire in the war sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel.

An Israeli official said Saturday the government had an "intention" to restart stalled negotiations over the coming days.

Palestinians react after an Israeli strike on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza

Tunisian Jewish pilgrimage sees low turnout amid security fears

Only a dozen pilgrims turned up Friday at this year's Jewish pilgrimage on Tunisia's island of Djerba amid heightened security concerns after a deadly attack last year and as the Israel-Hamas war rages in Gaza.

The pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue, Africa's oldest, usually draws thousands of pilgrims from Europe, Israel and beyond, attracting international and local tourists as well.

But on the first day of the pilgrimage event this year, only about a dozen worshippers were present -- almost none of them foreigners -- with a heavy police and National Guard presence.

A French Jewish pilgrim visits the historic Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba

Rebuilding hope for migrants aboard Med rescue ship

The shouts ringing out from the makeshift baseball court on the ship's deck are a far cry from the desperation of a few days ago, when the players were plucked from the often fatal waters of the Mediterranean.

As the young Bangladeshi men scampered and leapt for the ball, some watched while others aboard the Ocean Viking migrant rescue ship drew with crayons or pushed pawns across wooden game boards.

Pickup basketball on the deck of the Ocean Viking

Gaza zookeeper fears for his animals after fleeing Rafah

In a cowshed in Gaza's Khan Yunis, zookeeper Fathi Ahmed Gomaa has created a temporary home for dozens of animals including lions and baboons, having fled with them from Israel's offensive in Rafah.

"We've moved all the animals we had, except for three big lions that remain (in Rafah)", he said.

"I ran out of time and couldn't move them."

Ahmed abandoned his zoo in Rafah when Israel ordered the evacuation of parts of the southern Gazan city.

A lioness rests in Khan Yunis, Gaza, after it was evacuated from Rafah by its owner to escape the Israeli offensive

Hezbollah barrages deal heavy damage in northern Israel

A momentary shriek presages a bone-juddering blast, followed by a plume of thick black smoke. Refrigerator-sized holes mark where Hezbollah anti-tank missiles like this one have hit along Israel's northern border.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire with the Israeli army since Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack triggered war in Gaza.

The Iran-backed militants have launched thousands of rockets, mortar rounds, anti-tank missiles and attack drones at northern Israel.

Israeli activists have set up a protest camp near the Lebanese border to demand action to restore security so that the border area's 60,000 evacuees can return to their homes

Swiss return three confiscated artefacts to Iraq

Switzerland's foreign minister on Friday returned to her Iraqi counterpart three important Mesopotamian objects seized during a criminal procedure, the Swiss government said.

During a ceremony at the culture ministry in Bern, Elisabeth Baume-Schneider handed over a partial statue and two Mesopotamian reliefs to Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.

The three works, which are 1,700 to 2,800 years old, are "of great significance" to Iraq, the ministry said in a statement.

They were confiscated during a criminal procedure in the Geneva canton last year, it said.

One of the Assyrian reliefs from the eighth century BC that were returned to Iraq by Switzerland on Friday