An audio recording purportedly from the Islamic State group is calling on supporters across the world to stage attacks in defense of die-hard militants besieged by U.S.-backed forces in their last foothold in a village in eastern Syria.

The brief, minute-and-a half recording, released by IS supporters on social media and reported by the SITE Intelligence Group late on Monday says men, women and children in the village of Baghouz are being subjected to a "holocaust."

They worked to bring food to the hungry, medicine to the sick and clean water to people living in areas without it. Among the 157 people who died in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jetliner Sunday were dozens of international aid workers hailing from several countries in Africa and around the globe.

Violence in northwestern Syria has killed dozens over the past three weeks and displaced tens of thousands, raising concerns a truce reached six months ago between Turkey and Russia is in danger.

The violence in Idlib comes as the world is focused on eastern Syria, where U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters are on the verge of defeating the Islamic State group in the last area they control.

At first glance, Mark Zuckerberg's new "privacy-focused vision " for Facebook looks like a transformative mission statement from a CEO under pressure to reverse years of battering over its surveillance practices and privacy failures.

But critics say the announcement obscures Facebook's deeper motivations: To expand lucrative new commercial services, continue monopolizing the attention of users, develop new data sources to track people and frustrate regulators who might be eyeing a breakup of the social-media behemoth.

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has run into political trouble in the past, he has lashed out at the media, the political opposition and Israel's Arab minority with incendiary and divisive language to galvanize his nationalist base.

Ahead of April 9 elections, Netanyahu has zoned in on prominent Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi.

The leader of Hizbullah is calling on his supporters to donate funds as it comes under tighter sanctions from western countries.

The rare call came during a televised speech Friday by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a few days after Britain joined the United States in banning the group as a terrorist organization. The U.S. has increased its pressure on the group recently, placing several sets of sanctions on Hizbullah and its regional backer, Iran.

The mystery of Carlos Ghosn's strange attire when he was released from Japanese detention has been solved, with his lawyer saying Friday that it was an effort to protect the former chairman of Nissan from intense media attention.

Many had been baffled by why Ghosn was wearing a blue cap, surgical mask and a construction worker's outfit when he was released on bail Wednesday. The disguise has riveted Japanese tabloid media, with one TV show even featuring a reenactment with a man dressed in the same outfit.

As final defeat looms, militants of the Islamic State group have remained organized and ruthless to their last breath. Keeping institutions functioning in their last shred of territory, they are continuing benefits like food and money to supporters while their religious police and fighters still impose their rule of fear and brutality.

Refusing to surrender, the militants have tried to squeeze out any last possible gain. Over the past three weeks, they secured the evacuation of more than 10,000 of their exhausted and wounded followers, looking to ensure long-term survival and continued conflict.

French President Emmanuel Macron's plea in the publications of 28 nations for a stronger European Union has gained support from neighboring Belgium and Finland.

In a tweet Tuesday, Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila offered support for Macron's call for "security, sustainable growth and ambitious climate policy."

Aiming to crack down on money laundering and bribes to overseas governments, the FBI is stepping up its efforts to root out foreign corruption with a new squad of agents based in Miami.

The squad will focus its efforts not only on Miami but also in South America, a continent that has been home to some of the Justice Department's most significant international corruption prosecutions of the last several years. The Miami squad joins three others based in the FBI's largest field offices — Washington, New York and Los Angeles.