Lebanon demands Israel's withdrawal from two "pilot zones" in the south before participating in the next round of direct talks in Rome next week, a diplomatic source told AFP on Wednesday.

The source, requesting anonymity, said "Lebanon is stipulating Israel's withdrawal from two pilot zones in order to participate in the round of negotiations" that Italy and Israel said would take place in Rome on July 15 and 16, following a framework agreement signed last month.

Lebanon's judiciary postponed a hearing scheduled Wednesday for former central bank governor Riad Salameh, accused of embezzling more than $300 million, a judicial official told AFP.

Salameh, who headed the central bank for three decades and was arrested in 2024, has faced numerous accusations including embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion in separate probes in Lebanon and abroad.

U.S. President Donald Trump told a NATO summit that the United States wanted to "remain" with the alliance, a source at inside the closed-door session said, despite his earlier anger at European allies over the Iran war.

People in Bahrain and Kuwait awoke on Wednesday to the now familiar sound of warning sirens and explosions in the distance, as Iranian strikes again dashed hopes of a return to normalcy.

U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace is planning a pilot "humanitarian zone" in southern Gaza which would aim to accommodate tens of thousands of vetted Palestinian civilians, a board official told AFP.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Washington would give Kyiv the "the right to make" Patriot air-defense missiles as he met Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky at NATO's summit.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned Wednesday that U.S. forces would strike Iran "hard" in the coming night, after earlier declaring Washington's ceasefire with Iran over at a NATO summit in Ankara.

"We're gonna hit 'em hard tonight," he said before holding talks with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, saying: "They violate the agreement every day."

The Lebanese judiciary on Wednesday approved the release of crooner-turned-fugitive militant Fadl Shaker months after he surrendered himself to authorities, a judicial official told AFP.

The entertainer, born to a Lebanese father and a Palestinian mother, turned himself over to authorities in October after more than a decade in hiding in a Palestinian refugee camp.

The Egyptian football federation said Wednesday it had asked for the officiating team who handled the Pharoahs loss 3-2 last-16 to Argentina to be thrown out of the World Cup.

"Hany Aburida, President of the Egyptian Football Federation, filed a complaint with FIFA, demanding an investigation into the French referee Francois Letexier... after the serious refereeing mistakes committed by the team of referees and double standards, which caused the Egypt team to lose the match and leave the World Cup," said a statement from the federation.

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to halt all trade with Spain amid a bitter row over Madrid's defense spending and failure to help Washington with the Iran war.

"Spain is a wasted cause. We don't want to do any trade business with Spain anymore," Trump said as he arrived at a NATO summit in Ankara.