U.S. President Donald Trump's top adviser for the Middle East and other senior officials joined the third day of peace talks between Israel and Hamas in an Egyptian resort on Wednesday, a sign that negotiators aim to dive deeply into the toughest issues of an American plan to end the war in Gaza.

As the Lebanese government aims to disarm Hezbollah under U.S. pressure, the army is expected to fully clear a stretch along the Lebanon-Israel border, defined as south of the Litani river, by the end of November before moving into further phases, reports said.

The Lebanese government first aimed to completely disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year, but officials later said resources are too limited to meet the deadline.

Pope Leo XIV has said his first foreign trip, to Turkey and Lebanon next month, would provide a historic opportunity to promote Christian unity while bringing a message of peace and hope to Lebanon's long-suffering people and the broader Middle East.

Leo outlined the trip, announced by the Vatican Tuesday on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel, during an encounter with reporters as he left the papal country estate south of Rome.

Outgoing French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, aiming to calm the political storm triggered by his resignation on Monday less than 24 hours after unveiling his ministers, faced a tight deadline Wednesday to break the deadlock caused by his departure.

Spanish emergency workers on Wednesday recovered the bodies of two missing construction workers in the rubble of a building that collapsed in central Madrid a day earlier. The recovery brought the death toll to four.

The top floor of a six-story building under renovation collapsed and pancaked the floors below on Tuesday afternoon.

Russia is waging a "targeted gray zone campaign" against Europe, including airspace violations, sabotage and cyberattacks that will only escalate if the Kremlin is not challenged, the European Union's top official warned on Wednesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron is running out of wiggle room. The abrupt resignation of his prime minister Monday — Macron's fourth in more than a year of almost ceaseless political upheaval — puts the French leader in a bind.

Druze leader and former chief of the Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblat held talks Tuesday with President Joseph Aoun in what he described as a "friendly" meeting.

"The visit was friendly and reassuring despite all the campaigns that are raising doubts," Jumblat said as he left the Baabda palace.

Pope Leo XIV will travel to Turkey and Lebanon next month on the first foreign trip of his papacy, making a symbolically important gesture to Christians and Muslims on a pilgrimage to two countries that Pope Francis had planned to visit.

The Vatican on Tuesday announced that Leo will visit Turkey from Nov. 27-30, and Lebanon from Nov. 30-Dec. 2. The visit to Turkey will include a pilgrimage to Iznik to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea, the first ecumenical council.

Ed Gabriel, president of the American Task Force on Lebanon, a nonprofit that aims to build stronger U.S.-Lebanon ties, told journalists that the $190 million for the Lebanese Army and $40 million for Internal Security Forces will be mainly in training and equipment.

Gabriel, who met several top officials in recent days including Army chief Rodolphe Haykal and President Joseph Aoun, said the president is "determined to get things (disarmament) done.”