President Donald Trump staged a dramatic return to the White House after leaving the military hospital where he was receiving an unprecedented level of care for COVID-19. He immediately ignited a new controversy by declaring that despite his illness the nation should not fear the virus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans — and then he entered the White House without a protective mask.

Trump's message alarmed infectious disease experts and suggested the president's own illness had not caused him to rethink his often-cavalier attitude toward the disease, which has also infected the first lady and several White House aides, including new cases revealed Monday.

Former American professional cyclist Lance Armstrong led a bike tour around Beirut on Sunday to raise awareness and funds for organizations helping residents affected by a massive explosion that struck the Lebanese capital in August.

Dozens of cyclists took part in the "Bike for Beirut" tour as Lebanon marked two months since the blast at Beirut's port, where some 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrates were stored for six years before exploding on Aug. 4. It was one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded.

After a coronavirus-related delay, Israel's navy is preparing for the long-awaited arrival of its next generation of missile boats — giving it a powerful new tool to defend its strategic natural gas industry from the threat of Hizbullah.

The first debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden deteriorated into bitter taunts and near chaos Tuesday night as Trump repeatedly interrupted his opponent with angry — and personal — jabs that sometimes overshadowed the sharply different visions each man has for a nation facing historic crises.

In the most tumultuous presidential debate in recent memory, Trump refused to condemn white supremacists who have supported him, telling one such group known as Proud Boys to "stand back, stand by." There were also heated clashes over the president's handling of the pandemic, the integrity of the election results, deeply personal attacks about Biden's family and how the Supreme Court will shape the future of the nation's health care.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday said his party is still keen on the success of the French initiative but criticized French President Emmanuel Macron over his latest remarks.

“We welcomed President Macron's role and the French initiative for helping Lebanon, but not for him to become a prosecutor, a ruler or a custodian over us. We still support the French initiative but the rhetoric must be reviewed, because national dignity was insulted two days ago,” Nasrallah said in a televised address.

The death of Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, the leader of Kuwait who earned a reputation as a seasoned diplomat and a rare ruler who could cross the region's political and sectarian divides, touched off an outpouring of grief from the Arab world Tuesday.

As news of his death broke, condolence messages streamed in from leaders across the region and beyond. As a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a regional body of Arab Gulf states, Kuwait has often charted its own course, pushing for diplomacy to resolve a bitter dispute between Qatar and other Arab states that continues to this day.

Former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn made a new public appearance in Lebanon Tuesday during which he launched an initiative with a local university to help the country that is undergoing a severe economic and financial crisis.

It is Ghosn's second appearance in public since he was smuggled from Japan in late December to his ancestral Lebanon. In early January, Ghosn gave a news conference in Beirut saying he fled because he could not expect a fair trial, was subjected to unfair conditions in detention and was barred from meeting his wife under his bail conditions.

Cypriot authorities pushed back 200 migrants and refugees arriving from Lebanon aboard boats earlier this month, ignoring their claims for asylum while in some instances using violence and coercive tactics, a human rights watchdog said on Tuesday.

Human Rights Watch accused Cypriot marine police officers of beating some migrants and making threats. The group said coast guard vessels attempted to swamp migrant boats by circling them at high speed and abandoned at least one boat at sea without food or fuel.

The past year has been nothing short of an earthquake for Lebanon, hit by an economic meltdown, mass protests, financial collapse, a virus outbreak and a cataclysmic explosion that virtually wiped out the country's main port.

Yet Lebanese fear even darker days are ahead.

A Nissan employee testified Tuesday that he worked with another former Nissan executive, American Greg Kelly to find ways to pay the automaker's former chairman, Carlos Ghosn without fully disclosing his compensation.

Toshiaki Ohnuma, a star witnesses for the prosecution, described to the Tokyo District Court his job in human resources at Nissan Motor Co., where he said he handled executive compensation matters, including working with Kelly on finding ways to pay Ghosn without disclosing it.