Ex-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was sworn in Sunday as Egypt's president, may have donned civilian clothes but his crackdown on opponents has raised fears he could herald a return to autocracy.

Sisi was chosen as president in a May 26-28 election with 96.91 percent of the vote, nearly a year after toppling the country's first freely elected leader, Islamist Mohammed Morsi.

A series of bombings mainly targeting Shiite-majority areas of the Iraqi capital killed at least 24 people on Saturday, security and medical officials said.

The six car bombings and one roadside bomb hit seven different areas of Baghdad, also wounding more than 80 people.

A suspected al-Qaida attack on an army checkpoint in southeast Yemen on Saturday killed one soldier and wounded another, a security source said.

The attack targeted an army checkpoint in the al-Qatn area of the semi-desert Hadramawt province, the source said.

Israeli presidential candidate Benjamin Ben Eliezer said on Saturday that he was quitting the race three days ahead of the vote after being questioned by police over corruption allegations.

Ben Eliezer, 78, is a member of the Labor party, who was a general in the military and later served in several cabinet posts.

The United Arab Emirates on Saturday introduced military service, compulsory for men aged between 18 and 30, state news agency WAM announced.

A law on military service was brought in under the UAE constitution, which stipulates "the defence of the federation is a sacred duty for every citizen," WAM said.

The Syrian government on Saturday condemned the European Union's criticism of its presidential election, branding it a "violation" of national sovereignty.

The EU has described Tuesday's poll, which saw President Bashar al-Assad secure nearly 90 percent of the vote, as "illegitimate".

An Egyptian appeals court on Saturday overturned the conviction of a policeman who was sentenced to 10 years in jail for the deaths of 37 prisoners from tear gas.

It also overturned suspended one-year sentences handed to three other officers over the August deaths of the prisoners, who were alleged supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Jihadists took hundreds of students and staff hostage at a university in the Iraqi city of Ramadi on Saturday, sparking an assault led by special forces in which they were freed, officials said.

And in northern Iraq, heavy fighting between security forces and militants entered its second day, killing 59 people.

As Egypt prepares to swear in its fourth leader since 2011, a huge slice of $1.5 billion in U.S. aid remains in deep-freeze amid fears the nation is sliding back into authoritarianism.

Former general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will be crowned as the next president on Sunday after three years of political turmoil since the ousting of long-time iron-fisted leader Hosni Mubarak.

The diplomat ridding the world of Syria's chemical weapons is Sigrid Kaag, a statuesque and impeccably dressed mother of four who speaks six languages and is fearless in a war zone.

For nine months she has led the international mission to destroy Damascus's declared chemical agents, braving mortar fire, jetting between the Middle East, Europe and New York, and liaising with Moscow, Washington and maritime fleets.