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Iraq's PM Sudani joins majority bloc in parliament

Iraq's incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said Tuesday he had joined the country's main Shiite alliance, the majority bloc that will nominate the next premier.

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Israel says US plan for Gaza to deliver 'peace and prosperity'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday applauded the United Nations' approval of the Trump administration’s blueprint to secure and govern Gaza, while Hamas rejected the plan as a foreign instrument of control.

The resolution that passed the U.N. Security Council on Monday authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security in war-devastated Gaza, approves a transitional authority called the Board of Peace to be overseen by President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.

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One killed, three wounded in West Bank stabbing attack

One person was killed and three were wounded in a ramming and stabbing attack in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Israeli emergency services said.

Paramedics and an army medical force "established the death of a man aged 30 with a stab wound and referred three injured people" to two Jerusalem hospitals, Magen David Adom (MADA), the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, said in a statement.

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Syria opens first public trial over deadly coastal violence

The first trial was opened on Tuesday of some of the hundreds of suspects linked to deadly clashes in Syria's coastal provinces earlier this year that quickly spiraled into sectarian attacks.

State media reported that 14 people were brought to Aleppo's Palace of Justice following a monthslong, government-led investigation into the violence in March involving government forces and supporters of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad. The investigating committee referred 563 suspects to the judiciary.

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Palestinian deaths and abuse in Israeli custody

The number of Palestinians dying in Israeli custody surged to nearly 100 people since the start of the war in Gaza, according to a report published Monday by a human rights group that says systematic violence and denial of medical care at prisons and detention centers contributed to many of the deaths it examined.

The picture that emerges from the report by Physicians for Human Rights -Israel is consistent with findings by The Associated Press, which interviewed more than a dozen people about prison abuses, medical neglect and deaths, analyzed available data, and reviewed reports of autopsies. AP spoke with a former guard and a former nurse at one prison, an Israeli doctor who treated malnourished prisoners brought to his hospital, former detainees and their relatives, and lawyers representing them and rights groups.

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Outrage in Israel as Netanyahu says government will oversee Oct. 7 inquiry

After repeated delays, Israel's government has agreed to launch an investigation into the government failures that led to the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that triggered the war in Gaza.

But questions about the investigation's independence drew accusations Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to evade personal responsibility in the worst attack in Israel's history.

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Syria to hand over Uyghur jihadist fighters to China

Syrian authorities intend to hand over jihadist fighters from China's Uyghur minority to Beijing, two sources told AFP on Monday, as Damascus's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani makes his first visit to the country.

The issue of the Uyghur fighters was expected to be on Shaibani's agenda in Beijing, a Syrian government source told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that "based on China's request, Damascus intends to hand over the fighters in batches."

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Headwinds for Trump in persuading Saudi crown prince to normalize with Israel

President Donald Trump has not been subtle about how badly he wants to see Saudi Arabia and Israel normalize relations.

He has talked up his push to extend his first term Abraham Accords — the project that formalized commercial and diplomatic ties between Israel and a trio of Arab nations — as key to his plan for bringing long-term stability to the Middle East as the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continues to hold.

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Members of Syria's security forces and military detained over Sweida sectarian violence

Members of Syria's security and military services have been detained as part of an investigation into sectarian violence in the southern province of Sweida in July that left hundreds of people dead, investigators said Sunday.

The head of a Syrian committee investigating the violence in Sweida held a news conference in the capital, Damascus, to talk about progress made but did not release a death toll, saying this will come in the final report that is expected by the end of the year.

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UN Security Council to vote Monday on Trump Gaza plan

The U.N. Security Council will vote Monday on a resolution endorsing U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan, diplomats said.

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