KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Devotees pulled a wooden chariot with a girl revered as a living goddess in Nepal, kicking off the festival season in the Himalayan nation on Friday even as it struggles to recover from devastating floods last month. Meteorologists warned of more heavy rainfall this week.
The weeklong Indra Jatra festival is the first of a string of celebrations in the predominantly Hindu nation. Dasain, the main festival, is coming up in October, while Tihar — or Diwali, the Festival of Lights — is due in November.
The festival of Indra Jatra marks the end of the monsoon and rice farming season and signals the start of fall. It’s celebrated mostly by the Newar community, the native residents of Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital. It is also known as the festival of deities and demons, and especially honors Indra, the Hindu god of rain.
As Kumari, a young girl revered by both Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal as a living goddess, was taken around the center of Kathmandu, worshippers lined up to receive her blessing. Nepalese President Ram Chandra Poudel, officials and diplomats attended the ceremony on Friday.
Nepalese authorities warned of heavy rainfall forecast until Sunday and cautioned residents living near rivers. Schools across the country were shut down on Thursday and Friday.
Landslides and flooding on Friday closed some major highways, but no casualties were reported.
According to the country's disaster management agency, rescuers were still looking for those missing in the massive Aug. 26 flooding that destroyed several towns and killed 1,453 people when a Himalayan slope collapsed and unleashed catastrophic flooding.
Some 5,550 people are still missing, including hundreds of foreign tourists. Family members of workers missing at a key power plant since the flooding have demanded authorities speed up the recovery efforts.
FILE - Homes are engulfed in mud in the aftermath of flash flooding along the Trishuli River in the Devighat area of Nuwakot district, Nepal, Aug. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh, File)
FILE - Homes sit damaged in the aftermath of flash flooding along the Trishuli River in the Trishuli Bazaar area of Nuwakot district, Nepal, Aug. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh, File)
Saudi Arabia's top cleric has issued a rare statement, calling on the kingdom's troops to defend the country from neighboring Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Yemen is deteriorating as fighting escalates, further straining the country's overstretched health sector.
In New York, the wars in Iran and Gaza have dominated the agenda at the U.N. General Assembly, where the leaders of Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt were scheduled to address the United Nations later Friday.
Here is a look at the latest news from the Middle East. More coverage of the U.N. General Assembly is available here.
With Saudi oil facilities, cities and ships off its coast coming under escalating attacks, the kingdom's top religious authority has called on soldiers to be prepared to defend the country from Iran-backed Houthis.
Grand Mufti Sheikh Saleh al-Fawzan, who traditionally avoids weighing in on politics in a country that holds enormous influence among Muslims worldwide, issued the strongly worded statement. Al-Fawzan addressed his message to soldiers defending the kingdom's borders and members of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen, peppering it with Quranic verses and religious edicts.
“Protecting this great nation, guarding its borders, defending against aggression and punishing those who want to harm any inch of it is one of the greatest duties,” he said in the statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency on Thursday.
Israel’s military said two of its soldiers were killed in northern Gaza on Thursday while inspecting an unexploded Israeli drone near a military post. They were the first Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza in months.
The drone exploded as the soldiers, Ofek Moalem and Nadav Kali, approached it, the military said Friday. They were evacuated to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead. The incident is under investigation.
Five other Israeli soldiers have been killed since last October’s ceasefire that attempted to halt a more than two-year war between Israel and the militant Hamas group.
While the heaviest fighting has subsided, the ceasefire has seen almost daily Israeli fire. Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently fire on Palestinians near military-held zones and have killed 1,408 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
The human toll of renewed hostilities in Yemen has stretched beyond the battlefield, overwhelming a health system already battered by years of war.
More than 130,000 people have fled their homes as fighting escalates between the Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces. Fewer than 10% of health centers in affected areas are equipped to provide the care that wounded people need, according to the World Health Organization. Years of war have left hospitals with little capacity.
Children share emergency room beds, pregnant women are being turned away from health centers and medical supplies are running low.
The most recent round of fighting began in July after the Houthis declared a blockade on Saudi ships in the key Bab el-Mandeb strait, adding to pressure on global trade already disrupted by the war in Iran and the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.
The U.N. agency for Palestinians has met behind the scenes with officials from the U.S.-created Board of Peace, though the board has declared that the agency — known as UNRWA — will have no role in a future Gaza.
Publicly, UNRWA has not been included in the board's planning for the territory's postwar future. But Philippe Lazzarini, the U.N. agency’s last chief, told The Associated Press that members of a Palestinian technocratic committee are clear they want to work with the agency.
“They know that if you get completely rid of the agency today, it might have a further ... devastating impact on the population,” Lazzarini said.
The dynamic underscores how central UNRWA remains to addressing Gaza’s humanitarian crisis during the fragile ceasefire, even as Israel has sought to marginalize it. Israel alleges the agency has been infiltrated by Hamas militants, claims the International Court of Justice has said have not been substantiated.
Iran's Masoud Pezeshkian discussed efforts to de-escalate regional tensions with Qatar's foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as the country's prime minister.
The talks took place on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, according to an X post Friday by the Qatari foreign ministry. Qatar has often acted as an intermediary between the U.S. and Iran.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
A young man holds a Saudi flag while standing through the sunroof of a vehicle during celebrations marking Saudi Arabia's 96th National Day in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Baraa Anwer)
Palestinians walk amid war-damaged buildings in Gaza City, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
This image taken from undated video released by the Ansar Allah Media Office, the media arm of Yemen's Houthi rebels, on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, shows, according to the group, Houthi fighters firing rifles during clashes with Saudi-backed forces at an undisclosed location in Yemen. (Ansar Allah Media Office via AP)
Men perform the traditional Saudi sword dance known as the ardah during celebrations marking Saudi Arabia's 96th National Day in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Baraa Anwer)
