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Baabda (AFP) – Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), told AFP on Saturday that the mission would maintain its positions despite at least five of its members being wounded amid recent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. He spoke ahead of Sunday’s calls by Israel to move peacekeeping forces out of “harm’s way”. Later, UN peacekeepers said Israeli tanks broke through a gate to enter a Blue Helmet position in Lebanon in the early morning.

Bagdad (AFP) – Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein says Baghdad is against a regional war spreading to Iran, ahead of Israel’s expected retaliation for the Islamic republic’s recent missile attack. “The continuation of the war and its expansion towards the Islamic Republic of Iran and (Israel’s) exploitation of Iraqi airspace as a corridor is completely unacceptable and rejected,” he says during a press conference with his Iranian counterpart in the Iraqi capital.

Kurakhove (AFP) – A Ukrainian couple inspects and boards up the windows of their apartment after it was damaged during shelling near the front line in the Pokrovsk district of the eastern Donetsk region. The overcast weather provides slight protection against drones as Ivan and Liubov briefly visit to check on their flat before returning to a village about 20 kilometres away. Russia on Sunday said it has captured another east Ukrainian village as it closes on the important city of Pokrovsk, where its forces have been advancing for weeks.

Imilchil (AFP) – As a young girl growing up in the Atlas mountains, Hannou Mouloud’s family took her to have her chin tattooed with the cherished lines that generations of Moroccan Amazigh tribeswomen wore. But today, like in many of the Indigenous cultures across the world where facial tattoos were long prevalent, the practice has largely faded.

Jerusalem (AFP) – “Mr [UN] Secretary-General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now, immediately,” says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. His call to UN chief Antonio Guterres comes a day after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) repeated its refusal to withdraw from the border area after five of its members were wounded in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

São Paulo (AFP) – Stores and homes are without electricity in Sao Paulo after storms swept parts of Brazil, killing at least eight. Seven of the deceased were in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, mainly due to falling trees and walls toppled by violent winds and rain, according to the state civil defense. Central and southeastern Brazil have been pounded by winds reaching 62 miles (100 kilometers) per hour and up to four inches (10 cm) of daily rainfall, according to the National Institute of Meteorology.

Beirut (AFP) – Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says Iran “will certainly support the decisions of the Lebanese government, the Lebanese people, and the resistance [Hezbollah]” after meeting with parliament speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut. When Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Lebanon last week, he said Tehran backed efforts for a simultaneous ceasefire with Israel in both Gaza and Lebanon.

Hiroshima (AFP) – Residents and visitors in Japan’s Hiroshima welcome the Nobel committee’s decision to award this year’s peace prize to Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors pushing for a nuclear weapons ban. The committee noted on Friday that next year will mark 80 years since two American atomic bombs killed an estimated 214,000 inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, prompting Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II.

Beverly Hills (AFP) – Amy Rosenthal, co-founder of Colors for Kamala, presents the nail polish lines she created to support democratic candidate Kamala Harris’s campaign ahead of the US election on November 5. One of the lines, ‘Neutralizing the Name-Calling’, is based on the insults used by Republican candidate Donald Trump. It’s about “taking the sting out of the names” and “standing in solidarity with Vice President Harris as she’s out front taking the hits for us,” says Rosenthal.

Tokio (AFP) – “It is not nuclear arms that have deterred the use of the weapons, but it was what we have done that has deterred the use of them”, says a member of Japan’s Nihon Hidankyo during a press conference in Tokyo, the day after winning the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize was awarded Friday to the grassroots movement of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors pushing for a nuclear weapons ban.

Tel Aviv (AFP) – Cities around Israel are quiet, with markets closed, flights stopped, and public transport halted as observant Jewish people fast and pray on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It is the first time in decades that Israel observes the Day of Atonement while fighting wars on multiple fronts. Despite the holy day, Israeli forces are continuing operations against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and Shiite Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Bogotá (AFP) – A bear wanders through an arid landscape once abundant with water in the hills above Bogota, the Colombian capital, which is facing a severe water crisis. The video was posted on X by Acueducto, the company that manages Bogota’s water supply, as the city has been subject to rationing due to low water levels in a nearby reservoir since April. The dry spell — which scientists have linked to climate change — has also caused fires to burn out of control across the continent.