The largest provider of humanitarian aid in rebel-held eastern Ukraine says its work there has been paralyzed.

The charity foundation run by billionaire Renat Akhmetov has been distributing food and other supplies to residents in the rebel-controlled east, where most of the international aid organizations have no access.

The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East has met with top officials in Lebanon to discuss American military aid and other efforts to contain the fallout from the civil war in neighboring Syria.

Two crudely armored pickup trucks cruised along an eastern Mosul highway. A masked Iraqi officer riding shotgun yelled "Go! Go! Go!" and switched the radio from Iraqi folk music to fast, patriotic battle hymns as the vehicles sped up and weaved through the busy afternoon traffic.

Inside were members of Iraq's National Security Service, or NSS, a secretive intelligence and security unit that reports directly to the prime minister. Using tips from Mosul residents, they are taking the lead in hunting down suspected Islamic State sleeper cells that have managed remain behind as Iraqi forces fight to retake the country's second largest city.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is stressing the need to work for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after President Donald Trump signaled that he could accept a different outcome.

Merkel's comments in her weekly video message Saturday came ahead of a March 2 visit to regional power Egypt, where she said she will discuss the matter with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

An Afghan official says that 10 police officers and the wife of a police commander have been killed by Islamic State militants in northern Zawzjan province.

Mohammad Reza Ghafori, spokesman for the Zawzjan provincial governor, said Saturday that the police officers were ambushed Friday as they were coming out of a mosque. The wife of the police commander heard about her husband being shot and rushed to the scene, where she was also killed.

Analysts at the Homeland Security Department's intelligence arm found insufficient evidence that citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries included in President Donald Trump's travel ban pose a terror threat to the United States.

Lin-Manuel Miranda owned Friday's Oscar rehearsals. He sang a tune from "La La Land," posed like John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever," invoked a 1990s Billy Crystal Oscar monologue, and reprimanded his dad from the stage for having his cellphone light on.

The creator of "Hamilton" joined Sting, Justin Timberlake and John Legend for a day of music rehearsals at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre Friday. Miranda is nominated for "How Far I'll Go" from "Moana." Timberlake is up for "Can't Stop the Feeling" from "Trolls." Sting will sing his nominated song from "Jim: The James Foley Story," and Legend will perform the two nominated songs from "La La Land."

Palestinian authorities say three workers have died after inhaling toxic gas in a smuggling tunnel beneath Gaza's border with Egypt.

The Interior Ministry says the three were working to repair the tunnel a day after the Egyptian military blew it up.

The Latest on Malaysia's investigation into the apparent assassination of the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (all times local):

8:30 p.m.

Murky atmospheres between Lebanon and Gulf countries seem to surface again following the latest statements made by President Michel Aoun over the Resistance's arms, and Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's escalating rhetoric against Saudi Arabia, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

The President has defended the Resistance's arms saying they complete the Army's weapons, while Nasrallah waged a verbal attack against Saudi Arabia and the UAE.