The head of the Arab League exchanged a warm handshake Friday at the United Nations with the foreign minister of Syria, which has been suspended from the body since 2011.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hopes a new "safe zone" in northern Syria will kill two birds with one stone -- easing the refugee burden and pushing Kurdish militants away from his southern border.

The British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero headed into port in Dubai on Saturday after being held off the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas for more than two months, according to authorities and a tracking website.

Saudi Arabia on Friday said it was offering tourist visas for the first time, opening up the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom to holidaymakers as part of a push to diversify its economy away from oil.

Saudi Arabia is set to issue tourist visas for the first time, seeking to draw millions of foreign visitors in a bid to diversify its oil-reliant economy.

Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi on Friday dismissed a call for a second weekend of protests as "no reason for concern", with hundreds already arrested in an intensifying crackdown on a rare show of discontent on the streets.

Egypt has arrested nearly 2,000 people in what may be its biggest crackdown since the aftermath of the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, Human Rights Watch said Friday.

Egypt braced Friday for a second weekend of protests, as anger stemming from economic hardship and alleged top-level corruption threaten to eclipse a long-standing ban on street rallies.

Algerian authorities have arrested seven people in connection with a fire at a maternity hospital that left eight babies dead, the official APS news agency reported Thursday.

The blaze on Tuesday ripped through the hospital in the eastern town of Oued Souf killing eight newborns, some from burns and others from smoke inhalation.

Saudi Arabia's crown prince appeared to accept responsibility for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, telling US television a few months later that it "happened under my watch," but denying any prior knowledge.