Spotlight
The United States on Wednesday slapped sanctions on the son of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, extending efforts to block funds for the war-torn country's regime.
Hafez al-Assad, 18, named after his grandfather, will not be allowed to travel or maintain assets in the United States, the State Department said.

Moroccan farmer Hamid had pinned his hopes on selling his sheep for the Eid al-Adha feast, to make up for a year of drought and the economic paralysis linked to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Mass food poisoning in Jordan has sickened at least 700 people and killed a child, all of whom ate cut-price shawarma from a restaurant outside Amman, the health ministry said Wednesday.

Italy's coast guard said on Wednesday it had rescued nearly 100 migrants on a "half deflated" dinghy off the coast of Libya after authorities in other countries failed to intervene.

Mask-clad Muslim pilgrims on Wednesday began the annual hajj, dramatically downsized this year as the Saudi hosts strive to prevent a coronavirus outbreak during the five-day pilgrimage.

Yemeni separatists abandoned their declaration of self-rule in the south on Wednesday and pledged to implement a stalled Saudi-brokered peace deal, mending a rift between allies in the war against Huthi rebels.

She was one of the Arab world's most revered singers, praised by Bob Dylan and sampled by Beyonce: the late Egyptian legend Umm Kulthum seems worthy of having a street named in her honor.

Pilgrims were quarantined Tuesday in the Muslim holy city of Mecca ahead of the dramatically downsized hajj as Saudi authorities strive to prevent a coronavirus outbreak during the five-day pilgrimage.

An Iraqi protester died Tuesday after being shot with a tear gas canister in overnight skirmishes with police in the capital, medical and security sources told AFP.

Two demonstrators died in Baghdad early on Monday after being shot with tear gas canisters in confrontations with security forces, medics said, the first victims of protest-related violence under Iraq's new premier.
