International from Sunday, April 5th, 2026

Nigeria's army said on Sunday that it had rescued 31 civilians who were taken hostage during an attack on a church in northwest Kaduna state, while five people were found dead at the scene.

Two merchant vessels near the Italian coast recovered the bodies of two migrants and rescued 32 survivors from a boat trying to cross to Europe from Libya on Easter weekend, rescue charities said, citing the survivors as saying 71 others were lost at sea.

An Israeli airstrike on Kfarhata, a village in south Lebanon, killed seven people on Sunday, including a 4-year-old child, while another attack on the Jnah neighbourhood in Beirut killed four people and injured 39 others, Lebanon's health ministry said in a statement.

Oman and Iran have held talks at the deputy foreign minister level to discuss options for ensuring the smooth transit of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, Oman's Foreign Ministry wrote on X on Sunday.

An Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, local health authorities said, in the latest violence to overshadow a fragile ceasefire amid a new push by mediators to bolster the agreement.

Bahrain's Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company said a fire at its operating units after an Iranian drone attack was brought under control, the state news agency reported on Sunday.

At least 77 people have been killed and 137 more injured in Afghanistan over 10 days after torrential rain triggered widespread flooding in the country.

US special forces rescued a downed airman in Iran in a complex operation that averted a potential crisis for President Donald Trump, as the war entered its sixth week with little sign of progress in diplomatic efforts for a resolution.

Satellite imaging firm Planet Labs has announced on Saturday that it will indefinitely withhold visuals of Iran and the region of conflict in the Middle East to comply with a request from the US government.

At least 15 people were injured on Saturday, some critically, after a car slammed into a crowd near a community event in New Iberia, Louisiana, law enforcement officials said.