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Priest dies from stabbing on seaside promenade in Egypt

A knife-wielding man has mortally wounded a Coptic priest during an attack at the popular seaside promenade in Alexandria evening, Egypt's interior ministry said.

The ministry said the priest died while being treated for his wounds. It said the suspected attacker had been arrested.

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North demolishing hotel that was symbol of Korean engagement

North Korea is demolishing a South Korean-owned hotel at a North Korean resort that was one of the last symbols of inter-Korean engagement, according to Seoul officials who called for the North to stop the "unilateral" destruction.

South Korea built dozens of facilities at North Korea's Diamond Mountain resort to accommodate tourism by its citizens during a high period of engagement between the rivals in the 1990s. But North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2019 called the South Korean facilities there "shabby" and ordered them destroyed after months of frustration over Seoul's unwillingness to defy U.S.-led sanctions that kept the tours from resuming.

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US speeds entry for Ukrainians as more reach Mexico border

The United States has sharply increased the number of Ukrainians admitted to the country at the Mexican border as even more refugees fleeing the Russian invasion follow the same circuitous route.

A government recreation center in the Mexican border city of Tijuana grew to about 1,000 refugees Thursday, according to city officials. A canopy under which children played soccer only two days earlier was packed with people in rows of chairs and lined with bunk beds.

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UN assembly suspends Russia from top human rights body

The U.N. General Assembly has voted to suspend Russia from the world organization's leading human rights body over allegations that Russian soldiers in Ukraine engaged in rights violations that the United States and Ukraine have called war crimes.

It was a rare, if not unprecedented rebuke against one of the five veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council.

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Israeli police kill Palestinian who shot dead two in Tel Aviv

Israeli security forces early Friday hunted down and killed a Palestinian man who had opened fire into a crowded bar in central Tel Aviv, killing two and wounding over 10 in an attack that caused scenes of mass panic in the heart of the bustling city.

It was the fourth deadly attack in Israel by Palestinians in three weeks, and came at a time of heightened tensions around the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Later in the day, thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank were set to enter Jerusalem for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan at the Al Aqsa Mosque.

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Saudi Arabia returns its ambassador to Lebanon

Saudi Arabia announced Thursday it was sending back its ambassador to Lebanon, five months after a row erupted over the Riyadh-led military intervention in Yemen.

The foreign ministry "announces the return of the ambassador... to the sisterly Republic of Lebanon," read a statement carried by Saudi state media.

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IMF, Lebanon reach staff-level agreement on $3 billion financing program

The IMF announced Thursday that after months of negotiations it reached a staff-level agreement to provide Lebanon with $3 billion in aid to help it emerge from a severe economic crisis.

The country has been battered by triple digit inflation, soaring poverty rates, and the collapse of its currency since a 2020 debt default, and officials in Beirut applauded the announcement as it will open the door to additional financial support.

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Ukraine seeks arms from NATO as fight looms on eastern front

Ukraine was bracing to battle for control of its industrial east and appealing for more help from the West after Russian forces withdrew from the shattered outskirts of Kyiv to regroup.

Authorities were urging people to immediately evacuate from the Donbas region before Russia intensifies its offensive. In Brussels, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged NATO to provide more weapons for his war-torn country to help prevent further atrocities like those reported in the city of Bucha.

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Spain PM in Morocco to mend ties after Western Sahara shift

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is set to meet with Moroccan King Mohammed VI on Thursday during a two-day visit to Rabat that seeks to mark an easing of diplomatic tensions centered on Morocco's disputed region of Western Sahara.

The King will invite Sánchez and his family to share in the Iftar meal to break the day's fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to a Spanish government official not authorized to be named in media reports.

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Yemen's president steps aside amid efforts to end war

Yemen's exiled president stepped aside and transferred his powers to a presidential council on Thursday, as international and regional efforts to end the country's long-running civil war gained momentum with a two-month truce.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, major players in the conflict appear to have played a role in President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's decision, quickly welcoming it with a pledge of $3 billion in aid. The head of the new council has close ties to Riyadh.

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