A UK court on Friday handed a 20-year sentence to Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, who traveled from Norway to the UK in March 2025 to carry out an assassination following payment and orders from a criminal organization backed by Tehran.

Iraq has suffered an estimated $60 billion in losses during the war between the United States and Iran, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said on Thursday, warning of the exacerbating effect of the global energy crisis amid rising concerns about inflation.

Clashes between Kurdish militants and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) began on Thursday and have continued into Friday in western Iran’s Kurdish region, particularly around the Shaho mountain range, where Iranian forces have deployed heavy artillery and drones to pound the mountainous area.

Iran's parliament on Sunday is expected to vote on a defense minister nominee with a long record in the country’s missile industry, as Tehran faces an ongoing war with the US and Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday relayed a phone call with Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa during the clashes between Arab Bedouin tribes and Druze community in July 2025, saying that his “very short and very sharp conversation” dissuaded Damascus and its aligned tribes from resuming their offensive against the Druze in the Suwayda province south of Syria.

The Iraqi parliament on Thursday approved candidates for vacant ministerial positions and other senior posts in Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi's government, in a move aimed at completing his cabinet. The vote covered 14 positions, including three deputy prime minister posts and several key ministries, including interior, defense, planning, and higher education.

Archaeologists have identified a possible fatal spear wound in 75,000-year-old Neanderthal remains discovered at Shanidar Cave in the Kurdistan Region's Soran administration, potentially providing the earliest evidence of lethal violence involving a wooden weapon.