A group of seven Australia-based women plan to sue Qatar's government for being forced to undergo invasive gynecological examinations at Doha's international airport after an abandoned newborn was found in a trash can there last year, their lawyer said on Monday.

The Australian government at the time condemned Qatari authorities' treatment of the women who were subjected to the examinations at Hamad International Airport on Oct. 2, 2020, after Qatar Airways Flight 908 to Sydney was delayed.

Kuwait has temporarily handed its crown prince some of the ruling emir's constitutional duties, the royal family's secretariat announced on Monday, without explaining why the transfer was necessary.

The brief statement published by the state-run KUNA news agency said only that the government had issued an order for the crown prince to assume some duties of the 84-year-old ruling emir Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah. In the past, the royal office has made the move due to a ruler's poor health.

Egypt's national research body has said that it will start clinical trials for a domestically made coronavirus vaccine.

The country's acting health minister, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, told reporters at a press conference that it is launching clinical trials of the new vaccine. He said the trial for the vaccine, named 'COVI VAX' will start with tens, then hundreds, and will eventually include thousands of people.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of slain Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, registered Sunday to run in December presidential polls seen as crucial to helping the country turn a page on a decade of conflict.

Forces loyal to Yemen's internationally recognized government have withdrawn from the strategic port city of Hodeida, allowing the rebels to retake key positions there, Yemeni officials and the United Nations said.

The development was a setback to the U.N.-brokered cease-fire in 2018 that ended fighting over Hodeida. The deal was seen as an important first step toward ending the broader conflict in Yemen, devastated by years of civil war, but was never fully implemented.

At least 13 fighters loyal to the Syrian government have been killed in an Islamic State group ambush in the country's east, a war monitor said.

The top U.S. Air Force general in the Mideast said Saturday that American airmen would continue to be stationed in the region even as military planners consider competition with China and Russia as Washington's next major challenge.

Speaking to journalists ahead of the Dubai Airshow, Lt. Gen. Gregory Guillot acknowledged that presence "could adjust" after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August. The U.S. Air Force operates a major base in nearby Qatar, which oversaw operations in Afghanistan, as well as Iraq and Syria.

An Israeli married couple were arrested for espionage late Friday after taking photographs of the Turkish president's residence in Istanbul, Turkey's official news agency said.

Anadolu Agency said a Turkish national was also arrested. Police detained them after a tip off from an employee working in the Camlica radio and television tower on the Asian side of Istanbul.

Izzeldin Abuelaish captured widespread sympathy in Israel when he lost three daughters and a niece in an Israeli strike during the 2009 war in the Gaza Strip. Now, the Palestinian doctor is seeking justice in Israel's highest court.

Abuelaish is scheduled to appear before the Supeme Court in Jerusalem on Monday in hopes of receiving an apology from Israel and compensation for his loss.

Israel has faced growing calls to release five Palestinians who have been on hunger strike for weeks to protest a controversial policy of holding them indefinitely without charge, including one who has been fasting for 120 days and is in severe condition.

Israel says the policy, known as "administrative detention," is needed to detain suspects without disclosing sensitive intelligence, while the Palestinians and human rights groups say it denies them due process. Suspects can be held for months or years without seeing the evidence against them.