When night falls over northern Gaza, much of the cityscape of collapsed buildings and piled wreckage turns pitch black. Living inside the ruins of their home, Rawia Tambora's young sons get afraid of the dark, so she turns on a flashlight and her phone's light to comfort them, for as long as the batteries last.

Displaced for most of the 16-month-long war, Tambora is back in her house. But it is still a frustrating shell of a life, she says: There is no running water, electricity, heat or services, and no tools to clear the rubble around them.

The final results of Iraq's first census in nearly 40 years released Monday show the population has reached 46.1 million.

In 2009, an unofficial count estimated the population at 31.6 million.

Parliament on Tuesday started debating the new government's policy statement, with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam voicing commitment to extending the state's sovereignty across Lebanon, stressing that only the country’s armed forces should defend the nation in case of war.

Order a Coke to wash down some hummus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank these days and chances are the waiter will shake his head disapprovingly — or worse, mutter "shame, shame" in Arabic — before suggesting the popular local alternative: a can of Chat Cola.

Chat Cola — its red tin and sweeping white script bearing remarkable resemblance to the iconic American soft drink's logo — has seen its products explode in popularity across the occupied West Bank in the past year as Palestinian consumers, angry at America's steadfast support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza, protest with their pocketbooks.

The late leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah group who was killed in an Israeli airstrike days after he took the post was laid to rest in his southern hometown Monday, a day after his cousin and predecessor was buried in Beirut.

Hashem Safieddine, who was about 60, was killed in early October in a series of Israeli airstrikes in a southern suburb of Beirut at the height of the Israel-Hezbollah war. He was killed days after his cousin and predecessor Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Israeli airstrikes south of Beirut.

The papal thriller "Conclave" won best ensemble and Timothée Chalamet took best actor at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, a pair of twists that added a few final wrinkles to an unusually unpredictable awards season.

In winning the guild's top award, Edward Berger's Vatican-set drama triumphed just as the Catholic Church was praying for the health of Pope Francis, who remained in critical condition Sunday after an asthmatic respiratory crisis. "Conclave" dramatizes the fictional election of a new pope. Earlier in the evening onstage, Isabella Rossellini shared the cast's best wishes for Pope Francis.

A contentious Trump administration proposal to give the U.S. $500 billion worth of profits from Ukraine's rare earth minerals as compensation for its wartime assistance to Kyiv has been taken off the table, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday, indicating a more equitable deal is in the works.

Zelensky had earlier declined a U.S. draft agreement on exploitation of his country's valuable minerals such as lithium used in the aerospace, defense and nuclear industries because it did not contain security guarantees and came with the $500 billion price tag.

Starbucks plans to lay off 1,100 corporate employees globally as new Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol streamlines operations.

In a letter to employees released Monday, Niccol said the company will inform employees who are being laid off by mid-day Tuesday. Niccol said Starbucks is also eliminating several hundred open and unfilled positions.

U.S. stocks are recovering some of their sharp losses from last week. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% in early Monday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 149 points, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.3%. Berkshire Hathaway climbed after Warren Buffett's company reported a jumped in operating profits for the latest quarter. Big U.S. businesses have broadly been reporting better profits for the end of 2024 than analysts expected, providing solid support for the stock market. This upcoming week will feature a profit report from Nvidia, one of Wall Street's most influential stocks, as well as updates on consumer confidence and inflation.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.

Paris Saint-Germain has no serious rival in France this season and will soon find out if its crushing domestic dominance can translate into the team thriving on European soccer's biggest stage.

Still unbeaten in the French league after 23 matches, PSG extended its massive lead at the top of the standings to 13 points on Sunday with a 3-2 win at sixth-placed Lyon.