Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Monday urged Egypt to cooperate with prosecutors seeking to try four Egyptian security officers over the torture and murder of an Italian student in Cairo.

Oman announced Sunday it will bar expatriates from certain jobs in an effort to create more employment opportunities for its citizens amid an economic downturn. 

Egypt began its Covid-19 immunization program Sunday, becoming one of the first countries in Africa to vaccinate its citizens, with a doctor and a nurse receiving the Chinese-made Sinopharm jab.

Western Sahara's pro-independence Polisario Front bombarded the Guerguerat buffer zone under Moroccan control in the far south of the desert territory in an overnight attack Rabat described as part of a "propaganda war."

The emirate of Dubai has said it was slowing down its rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine due to a temporary delay in global deliveries. 

Over 350 migrants have been rescued off the Libyan coast by the Ocean Viking humanitarian vessel in just two days, a French NGO running the boat said on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia intercepted a "hostile target" over Riyadh on Saturday, said state media in the kingdom which has come under repeated attack from Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels since 2015.

More than 20 people were injured and several homes destroyed by a large explosion Saturday in a residential area of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.

Four civilians, including two children, were killed by Israeli strikes on the Syrian province of Hama at dawn on Friday, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported.

Forensics teams in war-shattered Libya have discovered 10 more bodies in mass graves in a once militia-controlled town outside the capital Tripoli, the Government of National Accord said on Thursday.