DOHA, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Five U.S. detainees flew out of Iran on Monday in a swap for five Iranians held in the U.S. in a rare deal between the arch enemies that also unfroze $6 billion of Tehran's funds.

A plane sent by mediator Qatar flew the five U.S. citizens and two of their relatives out of Tehran soon after both sides received confirmation the funds had been transferred to accounts in Doha, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters.

At the same time, two of the five Iranians landed in Qatar, a U.S. official said. Three have opted not to return to Iran.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 18 (APP): Caretaker Minister for Foreign Affairs Jalil Abbas Jilani on Monday arrived at the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations.

The foreign minister is part of Pakistan’s delegation headed by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar attending the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Upon arrival at the Mission, he was received by Deputy Permanent Representative Mohammad Amir Khan.

Later, High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Angel Moratinos called on Foreign Minister Jilani.

BEIRUT, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Experts called on Lebanese authorities to strengthen industry and agriculture sectors to increase exports and further reduce the trade deficit, which has seen a contraction of nearly 6 percent to 8.2 billion U.S. dollars in the first seven months of 2023 compared to a year earlier.

MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/: Russia has decided to secede from the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump repeatedly declined in an interview aired Sunday to answer questions about whether he watched the Capitol riot unfold on television, saying he would “tell people later at an appropriate time.”

Trump, the current front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, refused to say on NBC’s “Meet the Press” how he spent Jan. 6, 2021, once the insurrection began and whether he made phone calls as his supporters stormed the seat of American democracy.

SOFIA, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Bulgaria's defence ministry said on Monday it had sent a special unit to inspect and deactivate a drone carrying explosives which landed on Sunday evening in the Black Sea town of Tyulenovo.

Following inspection the team from NATO-member Bulgaria will decide how to dispose of it, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the team had been sent on the request of the regional government.

"We can certainly assume that it (the drone) is related to the war that Russia launched against Ukraine," Defence Minister Todor Tagarev told reporters.

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's imports of oil and gas products totaled 2.28 billion U.S. dollars during the January-August period this year, down 9.5 percent from last year, according to a report from the General Department of Customs and Excise on Monday.

As the country's oil and gas heavily rely on imports, the Ministry of Mines and Energy predicts that the demand for oil and gas products is expected to rise to 4.8 million tons in 2030, up from 2.8 million tons in 2020.

MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/: Russia has decided to secede from the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

15 September 2023; MEMO: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized two foreign-flagged oil tankers allegedly smuggling more than 1.5 million litres of fuel in the Persian Gulf, Anadolu Agency reports.

The tankers with Panama and Tanzania flags were held by IRGC Navy, Iranian media quoted Admiral Mohammad-Sharif Shirali, deputy Commander of the IRGC Navy’s Third Naval Zone, as saying.

15 September 2023; MEMO: US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken yesterday revealed that Saudi Arabia has made it clear to the United States that issues related to the Palestinians will be an essential part of any future agreement with Israel.

“It is also clear from what we hear from the Saudis that if this process is to move forward, the Palestinian piece is going to be very important too,” Blinken said, adding, “Normalisation cannot come at the expense of the Palestinian cause.”

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was acquitted Saturday of all charges at a historic impeachment trial that divided Republicans over whether to remove a powerful defender of former President Donald Trump after years of scandal and criminal charges.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors are seeking an order that would prevent Donald Trump from making “inflammatory” and “intimidating” comments about witnesses, lawyers and other people involved in the criminal case charging the former president with scheming to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s team said in a motion filed Friday that such a “narrow, well-defined” order was necessary to preserve the integrity of the case and to avoid prejudicing potential jurors.