A young demonstrator was shot dead in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Friday as gunmen killed a prominent activist in the capital, police and medics said.

They said Omar Fadhel was killed in the center of Basra, while at around the same time a key figure in anti-government protests launched in Baghdad in October 2019 was gunned down with a silencer as he drove through an eastern district.

Lakhdar Bouregaa, a highly respected veteran of Algeria's war of independence against France and a key figure in an anti-regime protest movement, has died at the age of 87.

The EU on Thursday called on Israel to cease demolishing Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank and lift a threat to demolish Palestinian schools, calling them "an impediment towards the two-state solution".

Saudi Arabia said Wednesday it will ease key restrictions on millions of foreign workers, as part of plans to reform its long-criticised labour policy. 

A Palestinian who shot at Israeli troops near Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday was killed by soldiers who returned fire, Israel's army said. 

Four children were among seven civilians killed in Syrian army bombardments of the country's last major rebel bastion on Wednesday, a war monitor reported.

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum said Tuesday he had received an experimental coronavirus vaccine, becoming the latest United Arab Emirates official to take part in the trials.

Qatar's ruler said Tuesday that a long delayed vote for the country's policy reviewing chamber will be held in October 2021, marking the Gulf emirate's first national election.

Under the autumn Iraqi sun, Abbas Abbud expertly scrambles up the ragged trunk of the palm tree. His mission? Picking the juicy dates overhead, and keeping this ancient profession alive.

Algerians approved a revised version of the North African country's constitution with two thirds of votes cast, the electoral commission said Monday, after record low turnout in the previous day's referendum.