Italy summoned Iran's ambassador on Thursday to demand the release of an Italian journalist while Tehran demanded Italy free an Iranian citizen arrested on a U.S. warrant over a drone attack in Jordan that killed three Americans a year ago.

The developments reflected an escalation in a sensitive, three-nation diplomatic tangle marked by a series of public barbs.

France and Germany's top diplomats met Syria's new ruler in Damascus on Friday, in the highest-level visit by major Western powers since the country's new Islamist authorities seized power last month.

AFPTV footage showed French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock sitting down at the presidential palace with leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says he has authorized a delegation from the Mossad intelligence agency, the Shin Bet internal security agency and the military to continue negotiations in Qatar toward a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

The statement had no further details, but Israeli media said the delegation would depart Friday.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 50 people across central and southern Gaza, including an attack on a sprawling tent camp that Israel has repeatedly bombed despite designating it a humanitarian safe zone. Israel said the strike targeted a high-ranking police officer, and blames Hamas for civilian deaths.

The airstrikes took place Thursday and continued into Friday. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he authorized a delegation from the country's intelligence services and military to continue negotiations in Qatar toward a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Israeli warplanes carried out two airstrikes Thursday evening on two mountainous areas in the Iqlim al-Tuffah region, deep in south Lebanon.

"Warplanes raided and destroyed a short while ago, with intelligence guidance from the intelligence authority, medium-range rocket launchers used by ... Hezbollah inside a military site of the organization. In addition, other rocket launchers were targeted next to another military site in the Nabatieh area," the Israeli army said

Russian officials have warned of severe environmental damage as thousands of people came out to clean up tons of fuel oil that spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers more than two weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, near Moscow-occupied Crimea.

Arsenal is back into second place in the Premier League and in no rush to add players in the transfer window.

Mikel Arteta's team beat Brentford 3-1 on Wednesday to leapfrog Nottingham Forest and close the gap on league leader Liverpool to six points.

Wall Street expects corporate profits to have surged in 2024 and forecasts an even stronger jump for 2025.

Companies still face a long list of uncertainties in the year ahead, including economic policy shifts, reheated inflation and shifts in the jobs market and consumer spending.

The United States has imposed sanctions on two groups linked to Iranian and Russian efforts to target American voters with disinformation ahead of this year's election.

Treasury officials announced the sanctions Tuesday, alleging that the two organizations sought to stoke divisions among Americans before November's vote. U.S. intelligence has accused both governments of spreading disinformation, including fake videos, news stories and social media posts, designed to manipulate voters and undermine trust in U.S. elections.

A U.S. Army veteran who drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year's revelers in New Orleans, killing 15 people, had posted videos to social media hours before the carnage saying he was inspired by the Islamic State group and expressing a desire to kill, the president said.

The FBI said it was investigating early Wednesday's attack in which the driver steered around a police blockade and slammed into revelers before being shot dead by police as a terrorist act and did not believe he acted alone.