Sudan's move to normalize relations with Israel has laid bare deep splits within society, with some bashing the deal as betrayal and others as a way to rescue the devastated economy.

Calls to boycott French goods are growing in the Arab world and beyond, after President Emmanuel Macron criticised Islamists and vowed not to "give up cartoons" depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

Polling stations opened Saturday in Egypt for parliamentary elections in which there was little doubt of a sweeping victory for supporters of hardline President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.

The United States on Friday hailed a U.N.-brokered permanent ceasefire signed between rival factions in Libya and said that all foreign fighters must now leave.

The Palestinian presidency on Friday said it "condemns and rejects" the normalization of ties between Israel and Sudan which was announced by U.S. President Donald Trump.

"The Presidency of the State of Palestine expressed today its condemnation and rejection of the deal to normalize ties with the Israeli occupation country which usurps Palestinian land," a statement said.

U.S. President Donald Trump predicted Friday that Saudi Arabia would soon forge ties with Israel after brokering an agreement for Sudan to normalize ties with the Jewish state.

Sudan on Friday agreed to be the latest Arab nation to recognize Israel, President Donald Trump announced in a new diplomatic coup for him days before U.S. elections.

The United Nations said Friday that the two sides in Libyan military talks have reached "historic achievement" with a permanent cease-fire agreement across the war-torn North African country.

After mediation this week led by U.N. envoy for Libya Stephanie Turco Williams, the 5+5 Joint Military Commission reached what the United Nations called an "important turning point towards peace and stability in Libya."

Two more senior Palestinian officials have tested positive for the novel coronavirus as veteran chief negotiator Saeb Erekat fights for his life in an Israeli hospital, one of them told AFP.

Washington imposed sanctions on Thursday against Tehran's ambassador to Baghdad, accusing him of efforts to destabilize Iraq via his role as a general in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.