The Lebanese army has dismissed allegations of abuse against hundreds of Syrian detainees in a security sweep at a refugee settlement near the eastern border town of Arsal, saying the mass detentions were necessary to combat terrorism.

The ruler of the United Arab Emirates has left the country on a private trip.

The state-run WAM news agency reported Saturday that Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan had traveled abroad. It provided no other details.

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says there's now a "clear understanding" about what's needed to reach an agreement reunifying ethnically divided Cyprus.

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Saturday that the recognition of the "essential elements" of a possible accord emerged from a meeting Guterres had with the rival sides during high-level peace talks in Switzerland.

Afghanistan's Interior Ministry says a Taliban shadow district chief was killed in fighting with security forces in eastern Wardak province.

According to a statement released Saturday, Mullah Bashir, the Taliban-appointed governor of the Nirkh district, was killed and two militants were wounded late Friday night.

As the U.S.-led coalition tightens the noose around the Islamic State group in Syria, President Bashar Assad's Iranian-backed troops are also seizing back territory from the militants with little protest from Washington, a sign of how American options are limited without a powerful ally on the ground.

Washington is loath to cooperate with Assad's internationally ostracized government. But it will be difficult to uproot IS militants and keep them out with only the Kurdish and Arab militias backed by the U.S. — and a coalition spokesman pointed out that Assad's gains ease the burden on those forces.

A man opened fire in a busy New York hospital on Friday afternoon, killing a female doctor and wounding six other people before turning his weapon on himself, according to officials.

Turkey's state-run news agency says Qatar's defense minister has arrived in Turkey for talks amid his nation's feud with four major Arab states.

The four, among other demands, are pressing Doha to shut down a Turkish military base in the tiny country. Turkey is adamant to keep its base and has sided with Qatar in the dispute, which saw the four Arab countries cut ties to Doha earlier this month, accusing it of supporting terror groups — a charge Qatar denies.

A homicide suspect livestreamed on Facebook as he traded gunfire with police, eventually shooting a Los Angeles SWAT officer before a police round struck him, a law enforcement official said.

The official was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Lebanon's Middle East Airlines carrier is operating as normal and had not received any new guidelines after the latest Trump administration revived travel ban for visitors from mostly Muslim countries, reports said Friday.

Syria's government and its ally Russia accused Washington on Thursday of concocting a "provocation" in Syria, which would then be blamed on President Bashar Assad's government as alleged use of chemical weapons to justify an attack.

In a statement carried by the official news agency, Syria's Foreign Ministry said it rejects U.S. allegations that Syria was preparing for a chemical weapons attack, describing such accusations as "misleading" and "completely baseless."