Lebanon

At least 11 people lost their lives, and dozens more were injured in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut early today, as diplomatic efforts to secure a truce intensified, according to the Associated Press. Rescuers are still searching through the rubble, and Lebanon's civil defense warned that the death toll could rise.

Researchers have discovered evidence of what they say is the world's oldest alphabet, believed to have existed in the Middle East hundreds of years earlier than other ancient scripts, New York Times has reported.

Almost 230 health workers have been killed in Lebanon since the outbreak of war in Gaza, most since the escalation of hostilities between the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah in September this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today.

A team of Israeli military experts has been appointed by IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi to investigate operational discipline within the IDF following an incident in which a 71-year-old Israeli citizen and a soldier were killed during a gunfire exchange with Hezbollah members.

Israel has killed more than 44,000 civilians in Gaza and left around 2 million Palestinians vulnerable in the face of mounting hunger and infectious diseases, the Turkish top diplomat has said, underlining that serious damage has been done to the global system due to the failure to stop the massacres.

Hezbollah's leader delivered a defiant speech on Wednesday, saying Israel cannot impose conditions for a truce in Lebanon, as visiting U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein headed to Israel to try to negotiate an end to the war.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a near-simultaneous statement, said any ceasefire deal must ensure Israel still has the "freedom to act" against Hezbollah.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on the sidelines of the G20 conference in Rio de Janeiro, underscoring the importance of Türkiye's role in advancing diplomatic solutions to pressing regional conflicts.

Hussein and Zahraa, 3, displaced Lebanese twins who fled with their parents from their village of Mais al-Jabal in south Lebanon amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel war, play on a gun with a twisted barrel statute, symbolizing anti-violence, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo)

At the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, world leaders issued a joint statement calling for "comprehensive" ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as a "just and durable peace" for the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war. This declaration follows Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which reached its 1000th day.

Slovenia's Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon, right, greets European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, during a round table meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024.