Six South African activists who were detained by Israel while attempting to reach Gaza as part of an aid flotilla said Wednesday they were subjected to harsher treatment than other detainees because of South Africa's role in a genocide case against Israel.

Most U.S. stocks are ticking higher on Wednesday, a day after breaking their seven-day winning streak, while the price of gold is pushing further past $4,000 per ounce.

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.