Kneeling beneath Lebanon's ancient cedars, Waheeb Humayed peers through a protective visor and waves a metal detector until he hears the tell-tale beep. He clips the grass, pushes a small prodder into the ground and gently sweeps the dirt away with a garden trowel, revealing another deadly mine.

Three decades after the civil war ended, deminers are still working to clear this mountainous northern region, famous for its centuries-old cedar trees, which are Lebanon's national emblem. Humanity and Inclusion, an international demining organization, says it has removed hundreds of mines and other explosives since 2011.

President Michel Aoun urged the world leaders to exert all efforts needed for the safe return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, warning against turning them into "hostages in an international game.”

President Donald Trump's withholding of military aid from Ukraine and his calls for the country's new president to investigate the family of a political rival have thrust the East European nation into an American political storm for the second time in three years.

Before news broke that an intelligence whistleblower had filed a formal complaint based in part on a conversation between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Ukraine had gained notoriety during the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. He was convicted last year on charges related to his political consulting work in the country.

With tensions high in the Persian Gulf, all eyes will be on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday as he speaks on the second day of the U.N. General Assembly's annual gathering of world leaders.

In another highly anticipated speech, Ukraine's freshly minted president will address the group for the first time as a fast-escalating scandal involving U.S. President Donald Trump swirls around him. Volodymyr Zelenskiy's speech comes just a day after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump, focused partly on whether Trump abused his presidential powers and sought help from Ukraine to undermine Democratic foe Joe Biden and help his own re-election.

As dozens of heads of state convene for the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York this week, the lingering conflict in Syria is taking a back seat while tensions in the Persian Gulf and global trade wars take center stage.

Now in its ninth year, many Syrians fear the unresolved war has become a footnote in a long list of world crises, with weary leaders resigned to live with President Bashar Assad ruling over a wrecked and divided country for the foreseeable future.

Nissan will pay $15 million and former chairman Carlos Ghosn will pay $1 million to settle allegations by U.S. regulators that they hid more than $140 million of Ghosn's retirement benefits from investors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday the settlement of civil fraud charges with the major Japanese automaker and its former chairman, who also will be barred for 10 years from serving as an officer or director of a public company. Ghosn, 65, is awaiting trial in Japan on financial misconduct charges in a criminal case.

Syrian authorities captured and dismantled Saturday a drone rigged with cluster bombs near the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, state news agency SANA said.

SANA gave no further details about the drone but posted several photos of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

The leader of Hizbullah on Friday called for Saudi Arabia to stop its war in Yemen, or else face more attacks on its soil.

In a televised speech, Hassan Nasrallah warned Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates not to incite war "because your houses are made of glass."

Lebanese authorities have released a Lebanese-Australian man detained for more than two years over an alleged plot to bring down a passenger plane bound for the United Arab Emirates from Sydney.

Australian-Lebanese dual citizen Amer Khayyat was freed Friday after a military court found he was innocent.

As the United States and Israel escalate their push to contain Iranian influence in the Middle East, countries in Tehran's orbit are feeling the heat.

Pro-Iranian militias across Lebanon, Syria and Iraq are being targeted, both with economic sanctions and precision airstrikes hitting their bases and infrastructure. This is putting the governments that host them in the crosshairs of an escalating confrontation and raising the prospect of open conflict.