The United Nations and other international organizations are bracing for four more years of Donald Trump, who famously tweeted before becoming president the first time that the 193-member U.N. was "just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time."

In his first term, Trump suspended funding for the U.N. health and family planning agencies, withdrew from its cultural organization and top human rights body, and jacked up tariffs on China and even longtime U.S. allies by flaunting the World Trade Organization's rulebook. The United States is the biggest single donor to the United Nations, paying 22% of its regular budget.

Protests erupted in Paris on Wednesday against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures in support of Israel. The event, intended to raise funds for the Israeli military, included Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich among its invited guests.

The demonstrations came on the eve of a high-stakes soccer match at France's national stadium against the Israeli national team, overshadowed by tensions around the wars in the Middle East. Authorities in Paris announced that more than 4,000 police officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed for the game.

There will be a heavy police presence but few visiting fans when France hosts Israel in Nations League football on Thursday amid an increasingly tense political climate.

French police chief Laurent Nuñez said 4,000 police officers and security staff will be deployed around the Stade de France, with another 1,500 police on public transport.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned Thursday that the "space for negotiation and diplomacy ... is getting smaller" over Iran's advancing atomic program as wars in the Mideast rage on and as President Donald Trump will return to the White House.

Rafael Mariano Grossi of the IAEA was visiting Tehran in an effort to restore his inspectors' access to Iran's program and answer still-outstanding questions over it, as he has on previous trips with limited success since Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the Islamic Republic's nuclear deal with world powers.

The U.S. military says it has conducted several days of strikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

The strikes included U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy aircraft, including the Navy’s F-35C stealth fighter jet, it said Thursday.

Several Israeli airstrikes have targeted a city in western Syria near the border with Lebanon, Syrian state media said.

Israel's warplanes hit Wednesday bridges and military checkpoints in the area around al-Qusayr and led to the activation of air defenses, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition war monitor.

The U.N. Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday condemned attacks in recent weeks on the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), calling on all parties to respect the safety of members of that force.

"They urged all parties to take all measures to respect the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel and premises. They recalled that peacekeepers must never be the target of an attack," the UNSC said in a statement, noting in particular attacks on October 29, November 7 and November 8.

U.S. forces have conducted strikes in Syria against Iranian-aligned militia groups for a second day in a row in response to further attacks on U.S. personnel, U.S. Central Command said late Tuesday.

In the latest retaliatory strikes, U.S. forces hit a weapons storage and logistics facility after militia groups launched a rocket attack on U.S. personnel at Patrol Base Shaddadi in eastern Syria.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, an ally of Hamas, released a video on Wednesday of a man identifying himself as an Israeli hostage held in Gaza since the October 7 attack on Israel.

The video shows Sasha Troufanov, likely speaking under duress, describing the harsh conditions inside Gaza, warning against military operations to free him and calling on Israelis to protest for his release.

President-elect Donald Trump is making a victor's return to Washington.

President Joe Biden will welcome him to the White House on Wednesday for an Oval Office visit that is a traditional part of the peaceful handoff of power — a ritual that Trump himself declined to participate in four years ago.