The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Friday that it killed Hezbollah militant Mohammed Mahdi Ali Shaheen in an airstrike in northeastern Lebanon on Thursday evening.

The statement added that he was targetted in the Lebanese town of Hermel by the Israeli Air Force with intelligence guidance.

According to Lebanese health authorities, the strike, carried out by two drones, targetted a vehicle, resulting in one death and one injury.

Israeli officials said on Thursday that the military would not withdraw from the strategic strip along the Gaza-Egypt border despite a ceasefire agreement that calls for a pullout by Saturday.

In the early hours of Thursday, Israel received the bodies of four hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, marking the final swap under the first phase of a three-stage ceasefire deal set to expire on Saturday.

Three of the hostages were killed while in captivity, while the fourth died during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, according to the Prime Minister's office. Forensic experts in Tel Aviv confirmed the identification of the four bodies after Hamas handed them over.

Iran's armed forces received a new domestically built warship and several pieces of homegrown military hardware in two separate ceremonies on Thursday, local media reported.

The warship, named Martyr Rais Ali Delvari, was handed over to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy in a ceremony at the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, attended by IRGC Chief Commander Hossein Salami, the Iranian Students' News Agency said.

The vessel has a sailing endurance of 5,000 nautical miles (9,260 km) and is capable of firing missiles with an operational range of 750 km, the report added.

Several explosions were reported on Thursday at Independence Square in Bukavu town in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), shortly after a political rally in support of the rebel March 23 Movement (M23), according to local media.

The blasts occurred shortly after the rally, where Corneille Nangaa, the political leader of the Congo River Alliance (AFC), a politico-military group allied to the M23, spoke, according to reports.

Deaths and injuries were reported, and the nature of the explosions has yet to be determined.

The death toll from a military plane crash, north of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, has risen to 46, local authorities said on Wednesday.

"The number of victims due to the plane crash, which took place yesterday, reached 46, with 10 injured," Khartoum State Press Office said in a statement, noting the casualties included both military personnel and civilians.

Health authorities are transporting the casualties from the crash site of the plane, which plummeted on a house in the Al-Hara 75 area in Omdurman, it said, adding that the injured are being treated in state hospitals.

The Antonov aircraft, which had taken off from Wadi Seidna Airbase in Omdurman about 22 km north of Khartoum, went down shortly after departure, killing its crew and several army officers, the Sudanese military said in a statement on Tuesday.

As India marks the sixth anniversary of the Balakot airstrikes on Wednesday, Pakistan continues to be in denial mode about the number of terrorists killed in the action. It also continues to hide the casualties it has been suffering because of the terror apparatus which it groomed and has now gradually turned against it.

Unreported casualties expose Pakistan’s fake agenda that nothing major had happened.

Pakistan is now facing its worst security crisis in over a decade. It saw a resurgence in violence in 2024, with at least 685 members of security forces losing their lives amid a total of 444 terror attacks.

The year 2024 turned out to be the deadliest year for the civil and military security forces of Pakistan in a decade. A document by Pakistan's Director General Inter Service Public Relations (DGISPR) has revealed this. In 2024, Pakistan suffered 2,546 violence-linked fatalities and 2,267 injuries among civilians, security personnel, and outlaws. Total causalities in 2024 were 4,813.

This tally of casualties stemmed from 1,166 incidents of terror attacks and counter-terror operations, marking a grim year for Pakistan's security landscape.

Three males have been hospitalised and four teenagers arrested following a stabbing attack in Melbourne's northern suburbs.

Police said on Tuesday that officers were called to reports of a fight and stabbing at a retail store car park in the suburb of Broadmeadows -- 15 km north of central Melbourne -- at about 7:30 pm local time on Monday, news agency reported.

Officers attending the scene found two men -- aged 40 and 18 -- with suspected stab wounds. They were both taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Witnesses told the police that a group of teenagers were seen running from the scene.

The police air wing was deployed to the area and spotted the group entering an address.

A group of 200 Chinese citizens suspected of involvement in fraud returned to China under the escort of Chinese police on Thursday after being repatriated from Myawaddy in Myanmar.

The suspects were first sent to Thailand's Mae Sot, which shares a border with Myawaddy, on Thursday, before being flown back to China on several chartered flights. They arrived at an airport in Nanjing, the capital of eastern Jiangsu Province.

The 200 Chinese citizens are the first group of telecom fraud suspects repatriated from Myanmar to China, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

It added that more than 800 other Chinese fraud suspects are expected to be repatriated in the coming period.

The repatriation of these suspects marks a significant achievement of law enforcement cooperation between China, Myanmar and Thailand against telecom fraud, the ministry said.

Mount Dukono, located in Indonesia's North Maluku province, erupted on Thursday, prompting the country's Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre to issue an aviation warning.

The volcano, situated on Halmahera Island, spewed a column of ash up to 2,000 metres into the sky. Thick white-to-grey clouds drifted south of the crater.

To mitigate the risks posed to aviation, a Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation (VONA) has been issued at the orange level, the second-highest warning, prohibiting planes from flying below 5 km around the volcano.

Aircraft should also exercise caution regarding ash clouds, which can disrupt flights, news agency reported.

The frosty relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan is set to worsen in the wake of recent remarks by Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.

During a United Nations Security Council meeting chaired by China, Dar emphasised the significance of peace and stability in Afghanistan. In response, Afghanistan has maintained complete silence.

However, experts from Afghanistan came out strongly against the remarks.

"The remarks of Pakistan’s Foreign Minister are contradictory. Afghanistan seeks an economy based on cooperation, non-interference in other nations’ affairs, and security for all, including Pakistan and the world. If there are territorial and border disputes, they should be resolved through dialogue. I hope Pakistan abandons hypocrisy and upholds the principles of mutual respect in its relations with Afghanistan," said Zalmai Afghan Yar, an Afghan military analyst, as reported by Afghanistan's