The Middle Eastern State of Qatar, which has played an outsized role in Afghanistan since the Taliban's sweep to power on Aug. 15, has sent a delegation to Kabul. It is the highest diplomatic level delegation to visit the Afghan capital since the Taliban announced their interim Cabinet.

Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen tweeted Sunday about the high-level delegation, saying it included Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdur Rahman Al-Thani, the deputy prime minister who is also Qatar's foreign minister.

Israel's foreign minister has proposed improving living conditions in Gaza in exchange for calm from the enclave's Hamas Islamist leaders, aiming to solve "never-ending rounds of violence" as the two sides exchanged fresh fire over the weekend.

The plan, which includes infrastructure and employment benefits, aims to show Palestinians in the Israeli-blockaded enclave that Hamas's campaign of violence against Israel is "why they live in conditions of poverty, scarcity, violence and high unemployment, without hope", Yair Lapid said Sunday.

The badly damaged old section of the southern Syrian city of Daraa, which until recently was held by opposition gunmen, appeared to slowly return to some sense of normalcy Sunday.

The capture of Daraa al-Balad marked another victory for President Bashar Assad, whose forces now control much of the country 10 years after Syria's civil war began.

Turkey is working with the U.N.'s refugee agency to repatriate Syrians to their home country, the Turkish foreign minister said Sunday.

His comments are at odds with the UNHCR's overall policy towards returning migrants to Syria, a country that it still considers too dangerous to send refugees back to.

Israeli aircraft struck a series of targets in the Gaza Strip early Monday in response to a series of rocket launches out of the Hamas-ruled territory. It was the third consecutive night of fighting between the enemies.

Tensions have been heightened following last week's escape from an Israeli prison by six Palestinian inmates, as well as struggling efforts by Egypt to broker a long-term cease-fire in the wake of an 11-day war last May.

Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri appeared in a new video marking the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, attacks, months after rumors spread that he was dead.

The SITE Intelligence Group that monitors jihadist websites said the video was released Saturday. In it, al-Zawahri said that "Jerusalem Will Never be Judaized," and praised al-Qaida attacks including one that targeted Russian troops in Syria in January.

Iran agreed Sunday to allow international inspectors to install new memory cards into surveillance cameras at its sensitive nuclear sites and to continue filming there, averting a diplomatic showdown this week.

The announcement by Mohammad Eslami of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran after a meeting he held with the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, in Tehran still leaves the watchdog in the same position it has faced since February, however.

Lebanon's new prime minister Najib Miqati has pledged to gain control of one of the world's worst economic meltdowns, saying lifting subsidies was a critical priority for the small country's government formed after a year of political stalemate.

It is a momentous task facing the 24-minister Cabinet, which includes fresh faces who are prominent experts in their fields, but which still reflects Lebanon's fractious politics.

The smell of death lingered for days after the killings. The bodies, more than a dozen in the uniforms of fighters, others in civilian clothing, were still scattered on the muddy ground.

In a nearby churchyard, many more were already buried — at least 59 people killed by forces from Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, residents alleged. Six bodies of priests were laid to rest inside the church itself. In their rush to flee to safer areas of the Amhara region, residents said at times they placed multiple bodies in single graves.

Soulful British singer-songwriter Arlo Parks has won the prestigious Mercury Prize for her debut album "Collapsed in Sunbeams."

The 21-year-old Londoner beat acts including singer Celeste, rapper Ghetts and bands Wolf Alice and Mogwai to the 25,000-pound ($30,000) prize, which recognizes the outstanding British or Irish album of the year.