The head of Israel's Mossad intelligence service said on Tuesday that the country must "ensure" Iran doesn't restart its nuclear program, six months after it bombed Tehran's atomic facilities during a 12-day war.

Dozens of residents from the West Bank's emptied Nour Shams refugee camp returned on Wednesday to retrieve belongings ahead of the Israeli military's demolition of 25 residential buildings there.

Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar headed to Bulgaria on Wednesday to question a shipowner wanted in connection with the catastrophic 2020 Beirut port blast, a judicial official told AFP.

The long-awaited questioning comes after a court this month refused Lebanon's request to extradite Igor Grechushkin, a 48-year-old Russian-Cypriot who was arrested in September at Sofia airport.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday the bloc must take a decision on financing Ukraine at a crunch summit this week, with leaders under pressure to agree a plan to use frozen Russian assets.

"There is no more important act of European defence than supporting Ukraine's defence. The next days will be a crucial step for securing this, it is up to us to choose how we fund Ukraine's fight," von der Leyen told EU lawmakers.

Nepal launched on Tuesday a nationwide tiger census, a key step in conservation efforts to aid the recovery of the big cats that once faced near extinction in the Himalayan nation.

The survey will be conducted in four national parks in Nepal's forested southern plains, covering more than 8,000 square kilometres (3,000 square miles) of protected areas and adjoining forests, officials said.

The European Union looks set to scrap a landmark 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel cars on Tuesday, as part of a package of reforms aimed at supporting Europe's embattled auto industry.

Iraq's transport ministry said Tuesday that a flight operated by Greece's Aegean Airlines had been the first European aircraft in 35 years to land at Baghdad's international airport.

Lebanon's judiciary approved the release on bail of former economy minister Amin Salam on Tuesday after six months of detention over corruption linked to contracts deemed suspicious, a judicial official said.

Salam, who served in the cabinet of former prime minister Najib Mikati from 2021 to 2025, is the only ex-minister to be arrested since the start of Lebanon's economic crisis in 2019.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack that killed Sunday four Syrian security personnel, the SITE Intelligence Group reported.

"The soldiers of the Caliphate attacked a patrol for the apostate Syrian government on the Maaret al-Numan road yesterday with machine guns," the group said Monday according to a statement shared by SITE, which monitors extremist groups.

Over the past weeks, the U.S. has increased pressure on Lebanon to work harder on disarming Hezbollah and canceled a planned trip to Washington last month by Army chief Gen. Rodolph Haykal.

U.S. officials were angered in November by a Lebanese army statement that blamed Israel for destabilizing Lebanon and blocking the Lebanese military deployment in south Lebanon.