Dutch appeals court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision to throw out a civil case against Israel's defense minister and another former senior military officer over their roles in a deadly 2014 airstrike.

The Hague District Court ruled in January 2020 that the case against Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and former air force commander Amir Eshel couldn't proceed because the men have "functional immunity from jurisdiction."

The Beirut Civil Court of Appeals under the chairmanship of Judge Randa Harrouq on Tuesday dismissed ex-minister Youssef Fenianos’ recusal request against Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar, the state-run National News Agency said.

According to NNA, Harrouq said that the court lacks the jurisdiction to accept such a request, a stance that was expected after the Court of Cassation said that it exclusively has the right to look into recusal requests against Bitar.

China on Tuesday accused the United States of violating the Olympic spirit by announcing an American diplomatic boycott of February's Beijing Winter Games, amid an increasingly bitter feud over the Biden administration's decision not to send officials over human rights concerns.

The U.S. is attempting to interfere with the Beijing Winter Olympics "out of ideological prejudice and based on lies and rumors," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters at a daily briefing.

The United Arab Emirates said Tuesday its official workweek will move to Monday to Friday, a significant change that brings the Islamic nation that is home to major financial institutions in line with Western schedules.

The decision, which is to take effect next month, makes the Gulf Arab federation one of the few countries in the Middle East to operate on Western hours instead of on a Sunday through Thursday week.

Russia's military buildup on the border with Ukraine will be the top focus of talks between President Joe Biden and Russia's Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, but there are plenty of other thorny issues on the table as well, including cyberattacks, human rights, and US-Russian relations that a Kremlin spokesman says are overall in "a rather dire state."

Fyodor Lukyanov, a leading Moscow-based foreign policy expert, suggested that progress on nuclear arms control and cybersecurity since the summit in Geneva will be discussed, and that regional topics like Syria, Afghanistan and North Korea might get a cursory mention, but mostly it will be about tensions over Ukraine.

Rescuers dug out the body of a 13-year-old boy with their bare hands on Monday, as improved weather condition allowed them to resume their search for bodies after the highest volcano on Java island erupted with fury, killing at least 22 people and leaving 27 others missing.

Mount Semeru in Lumajang district in East Java province spewed thick columns of ash as high as 12,000 meters (40,000 feet) into the sky in a sudden eruption Saturday triggered by heavy rain. Villages and nearby towns were blanketed by tons of volcanic debris.

Leftovers were on the menu for moviegoers in North America this weekend. "Encanto," "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" and "House of Gucci" repeated in the top three spots, according to studio estimates on Sunday. All three films are playing exclusively in theaters.

The weekend after Thanksgiving is usually pretty quiet at the box office and this year was no exception considering new offerings like "Flee" and "Benedetta" were playing only in limited release. Disney's "Encanto," an animated tale with original music from Lin-Manuel Miranda, earned $12.7 million to take the top spot, down 53% from its opening last weekend. Globally, it's earned $116.1 million to date.

Pop star Justin Bieber performed to a packed crowd in the Red Sea city of Jiddah in Saudi Arabia, singing some of his most popular hits. The Sunday night concert took place even as human rights campaigners and activists called on Bieber to cancel his performance to protest the kingdom's arrests and crackdown of critics.

Bieber's model wife, Hailey Baldwin Bieber, posted a supportive video on Instagram of him on stage, with the words: "Go Baby." Other videos on social media showed Bieber on stage solo, wearing a coordinated red outfit. Pop and R&B singer Jason Derulo performed before Bieber with backup female dancers in sweatpants and baggy tops.

Winners of the 2021 Nobel Prizes began receiving their awards on Monday in scaled-down local ceremonies adapted for pandemic times.

For a second year, COVID-19 has scuttled the traditional formal banquet in Stockholm attended by winners of the prizes in chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and economics, which were announced in October. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded separately in Oslo, Norway.

An apartment building collapsed in a southern Egyptian province on Monday, killing at least three children, the country's state-run media reported.

Rescue teams retrieved at least nine injured from the rubble of the two-story building in the district of Ihnasiya in Beni Suef province, around 111 kilometers (69 miles) south of Cairo, according to the daily Al-Ahram.