What if a simple pill could help heal from Covid-19?

Four women have been found dead in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Taliban government said on Saturday, following reports that activists had been killed.

Hundreds of supporters of pro-Iran groups clashed with security forces in Iraq's capital Friday, expressing their fury over last month's election result, AFP journalists and a security source said.

Demonstrators from groups loyal to the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary network threw projectiles and "blocked... access to the (high-security) Green Zone" on three sides, before they were pushed back by police who fired in the air, a security source said, requesting anonymity. 

Pfizer said Friday that a clinical trial of its pill to treat Covid-19 had shown it is highly effective.

The IMF has begun "preparatory" talks with Lebanon on a new aid package after receiving an official request from Beirut, an IMF spokesman said Thursday.

The judge leading investigations into last year's Beirut port blast was forced to stop work Thursday over a lawsuit filed by an ex-minister he had summoned for interrogation.

Tarek Bitar was informed of a "lawsuit submitted by former public works minister Youssef Fenianos... which forced him to pause the probe until a ruling is issued," a court official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Emirates is to start daily flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv on Saturday, the airline announced, in the latest sign of deepening relations since the UAE and Israel normalized ties in September last year.

The Dubai-based carrier, one of the largest in the world, said the new service would also link Israel seamlessly with its global route network.

The United States has called on Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies to restore relations with Lebanon, saying the struggling nation needed international support.

"Our position is that diplomatic channels should remain open if we are to seek to improve the humanitarian conditions of the Lebanese people," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

U.S. authorities on Wednesday put the Israeli maker of the Pegasus spyware on a list of restricted companies, taking aim at software central to a scandal over surveillance of journalists and officials.

Turkish-backed groups in northern Syria have weaponized water by building dams on a river that serves as a lifeline for communities living downstream in Kurdish-dominated areas, a report alleged Wednesday said.