Iraqi midwife Umm Mariam used to help bring three babies into the world per day. But with mothers-to-be avoiding pandemic-hit hospitals, she now delivers twice that number in her makeshift home clinic.

Thousands protested against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu across Israel on Saturday night, demanding he resign over corruption and a resurgence of coronavirus cases.

The United Arab Emirates' Barakah nuclear power plant, a first for the Arab world, successfully started up Saturday in a region grappling with conflicts.

A United Arab Emirates official on Saturday urged Turkey to stop interfering in Arab affairs, mockingly referring to the Ottoman empire which collapsed a century ago.

A smaller carbon footprint, less waste and more environmentally friendly -- this year's pilgrimage to Mecca, dramatically scaled down due to coronavirus, has opened up the prospect of a "green hajj".

The oil-rich United Arab Emirates on Saturday announced the startup of its Barakah nuclear power plant, scoring another first for the Arab world.

Iraq's government said Thursday that since last October when anti-government protests erupted in the country, a total of 560 protesters and members of the security forces have been killed in the violence.

The figure was reported by Hisham Daoud, an advisor to Iraq's prime minister, at a press conference in Baghdad. He said a fact-finding committee would investigate the killings further.

Small groups of pilgrims performed one of the final rites of the Islamic hajj on Friday as Muslims worldwide marked the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday amid a global pandemic that has impacted nearly every aspect of this year's pilgrimage and celebrations.

The last days of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia coincide with the four-day Eid al-Adha, or "Feast of Sacrifice," in which Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman was discharged from a hospital in the capital Riyadh after more than a week following surgery to remove his gall bladder, the Royal Court said.

The court said in a statement late Thursday the monarch, 84, left the King Faisal Specialist Hospital after a recovery.

Yemen's Huthi rebels on Thursday freed six members of the Baha'i faith whose years of imprisonment had raised international concern, the community said.