WORLD

Israel's longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Wednesday he had secured a deal to form a new government after weeks of unexpectedly tough negotiations with religious and far-right coalition partners.

Biden also made clear to Zelensky -- who was on his first trip outside of Ukraine since Russia invaded in February -- that there were limits to the type of support that can be provided to Kyiv without risking divisions among its allies.

In Kabul, home to the country's largest universities, students gathered outside campuses dressed in the black cloaks and tight headscarves imposed by the Taliban since they took control last year.

Following his November 1 election win, Netanyahu secured a mandate to form a government backed by two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties and an extreme-right Zionist bloc.

Militants being held at the centre took control of the compound on Sunday after overpowering their interrogators and taking their weapons,

Pakistani army commandos on Tuesday stormed a counter-terrorism centre and killed militant detainees who had seized control of the facility, as well as rescuing their hostages, after talks failed to resolve a two-day standoff, the defence minister said.

As a corruption scandal rocks the European Parliament, lawmakers and campaign groups say a lack of asset declarations, little reporting on contacts with third countries and barely any sanctions created an environment where rule-breaking could go unpunished or undetected.

There are conflicting views in Russia on whether or not to launch a renewed offensive in Ukraine, a senior U.S.

Afghanistan's Taliban-run higher education ministry on Tuesday suspended access to universities by female students until further notice, drawing strong condemnation from the United States, Britain and the United Nations.

Iran signalled its readiness for dialogue with regional states during a conference its arch foe Saudi Arabia attended in Jordan on Tuesday which yielded few signs of progress and no meeting between the two sides.

Officially, 500 people died but rights groups claim the true number was in the thousands.

That unannounced trip came as Russian President Vladimir Putin planned to meet senior military officials Wednesday to weigh the results so far of Russia's war and set goals for next year after a series of battlefield defeats.

Farhadi, who notably directed Alidoosti in his Oscar-winning film "The Salesman", said he stood by the celebrated actor who he said was in jail merely because of her "rightful support" of fellow Iranians.

Jordan hosts a Middle East summit Tuesday bringing together regional and international players hoping to help resolve regional crises, particularly in neighbouring Iraq.

On Monday, Russia launched a swarm of attack drones at critical infrastructure in Kyiv as the war showed no signs of relenting.

For nearly two years the United States has tried and failed to negotiate a revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal yet Washington and its European allies refuse to close the door to diplomacy.

Pakistani authorities on Monday opened talks to try to resolve a stand-off with Islamist militants who were holding several security personnel hostage after seizing control of a counter-terrorism facility in the country's northwest a day earlier.

Their appeal for the life of Mehdi Mohammad Karami comes as Amnesty International warns that at last 26 people are at risk of execution over the protests, the biggest challenge to the authorities since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

The United States accused U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of "apparently yielding to Russian threats" and not sending officials to Ukraine to inspect drones used by Russia that Washington and others say were supplied by Iran.

He arrived at the French capital's Charles de Gaulle airport on Sunday morning, an AFP correspondent saw, the culmination of a lengthy judicial saga after his deportation.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said protecting Ukraine's borders was a "constant priority" and his country was ready for all possible scenarios with Russia and its ally Belarus, which Kyiv has warned could be drawn into the 10-month conflict.

At least 19 people were killed and 32 were injured in the incident, Hekmatullah Shamim, spokesman for the governor of Parwan, told reporters.

Colonel Abdul Razzaq Dalabeh, the deputy police chief of Maan province, died of a gunshot to the head in the town of Al-Husseiniya on Thursday while confronting what the authorities called "riots".

Alidoosti, 38, was arrested on Saturday, official media said, after making a string of social media posts supporting the protest movement -- including removing her headscarf and condemning the execution of protesters.

Islamist militants seized a counter-terrorism centre in the northwestern Pakistani area of Bannu on Sunday and took hostages to negotiate with government authorities, officials said.

Workers from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka helped build many of Qatar's eight stadiums, and to fill them for the matches. India was one of the top ticket-buying nations.

Members of Russia's Pussy Riot band were detained on Sunday after trying to storm the pitch at the World Cup final in Qatar to protest the war in Ukraine, the imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the oppression of women in Iran, activists said.

How the war in Ukraine has played out serves as a cautionary tale on the potential dangers of launching such an invasion.

Fuel prices in Jordan have nearly doubled compared with a year earlier, particularly the diesel used by trucks and buses, and kerosene for heating.