Iraq's anti-corruption commission said Monday it has recovered $1 billion in money stolen from state coffers in the first six months of the year, in its latest efforts to stem corruption.

A Libyan airliner has narrowly escaped being hit by incoming fire as it landed at war-torn capital Tripoli's sole functioning airport, aviation officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced harsh criticism and mockery Monday by election rivals and a former cabinet colleague after members of his Likud party were asked to pledge support for his leadership.

At least 19 people have been killed when a speeding car driving against traffic crashed into three others causing a huge explosion in Cairo, the Egyptian health ministry said Monday.
The car crash happened just before midnight Sunday outside the National Cancer Institute in central Cairo and also wounded 30 people, the ministry added.

France's President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday about the situation in Libya calling for a ceasefire "very soon" between the warring sides, the French presidency said.

The chief of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main jihadist group in Syria's northwestern Idlib, on Saturday refused any withdrawal from a future buffer zone after a truce went into effect in the area.

The United States Sunday welcomed a ceasefire in Syria's northwestern Idlib region after months of deadly government bombardments but insisted attacks against civilians must stop.

Talks between the U.S. and the Taliban seeking to end nearly 18 years of war in Afghanistan resumed in Doha on Saturday, the Taliban said.

Presidential hopefuls in Tunisia began registering their candidacies on Friday for snap September polls called after the death of 92-year-old leader Beji Caid Essebsi.

The United Nations will investigate several attacks on U.N.-supported facilities and other civilian sites in northwest Syria, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced on Thursday, angering Russia.
