Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said Wednesday Xabi Alonso has a great future in football despite Real Madrid replacing him at the helm this week.

Iran's deadly crackdown on protesters and U.S. warnings of intervention are being closely watched by neighboring countries in the Middle East.

Here is how the crisis is regarded by some of the region's key players:

Some personnel have been told to depart the United States' Al Udeid military base in Qatar, two diplomatic sources told AFP on Wednesday, after Washington threatened to respond to a government crackdown on protests in Iran.

A number of personnel were asked to leave the base by Wednesday evening, one source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. The second source confirmed the information, also on condition of anonymity.

The planet logged its third hottest year on record in 2025, extending a run of unprecedented heat, U.S. researchers and EU climate monitors said Wednesday.

The last 11 years have now been the warmest ever recorded, with 2024 topping the podium and 2023 in second place, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service and Berkeley Earth, a California-based non-profit research organization.

Greenhouse gas emissions in the United States rose last year, snapping a two-year streak of declines as cold winter temperatures drove demand for heating fuel and the AI boom led to a surge in power generation, a think tank said Tuesday.

New Real Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa insisted Tuesday he would be himself at the helm of the Spanish giants rather than trying to imitate Jose Mourinho.

Israeli police issued an arrest warrant for a former aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, accusing him of being implicated in two affairs involving the premier's office.

The deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters in Syria were an attempt to sabotage peace moves between Turkey and the PKK, the Kurdish militant group said Tuesday.

Israeli forces arrested two Israelis and a Palestinian on Tuesday who allegedly posed as soldiers to rob a jewelry shop in the southern occupied West Bank, the military and police said.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Iranians should continue nationwide protests and take over the country's institutions as authorities there cracked down on mass demonstrations.

"Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.