A Virginia judge has entered a default judgment against a Libyan military commander after he repeatedly failed to show up for depositions in a federal lawsuit in which he is accused of war crimes.

The exact amount of the judgment against Khalifa Haftar, who spent decades living in the U.S., will be determined at a future date. Because Haftar and his family own extensive property in northern Virginia from his time in the country, according to the plaintiffs, they are optimistic they will be able to collect any judgment that is awarded.

Supporters of powerful Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr penetrated Baghdad's heavily fortified "Green Zone" and occupied parliament on Saturday in a deepening political crisis.

It is the second time in days that Sadr supporters have forced their way in to the legislative chamber, months after elections that failed to lead to formation of a government.

A Palestinian teenager was killed on Friday in clashes with the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Amjad Nashaat Abu Alia, 16, "died of critical wounds sustained by live bullets in the chest", during clashes near the village of Al-Mughayer, close to Ramallah, the ministry said in a statement.

Tunisian voters have approved a referendum on a new constitution that gives more powers to the country's president. It's a step that brings hope to many in the struggling North African nation, but critics warn it could return Tunisia to autocracy and say low turnout marred the vote's legitimacy.

Some people interviewed by The Associated Press this week celebrated the result of Monday's referendum and expressed support for President Kais Saied, who spearheaded the project and proposed the text himself.

Egyptian prosecutors are denying allegations of torture and ill-treatment leveled by a prominent imprisoned activist and claim he is in good condition, years after the allegations were made.

For nearly 10 days, Alaa Abdel-Fattah's family members say they have not heard from him and have been told by prison officials he's refusing to meet with them. Amnesty International has urged Egyptian authorities to allow the family access to the 40-year-old programmer and father serving a five-year sentence.

French leader Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman agreed to work "to ease the effects" of the Ukraine war, Macron's office said Friday, after talks in Paris that marked the full diplomatic rehabilitation of the Saudi leader.

Like U.S. President Joe Biden who visited Riyadh earlier this month, Macron had been keen to secure extra oil production from the de facto Saudi leader who was a pariah in the West under recently.

The followers of the influential populist Shiite cleric came by the thousands to storm Iraq's parliament. Just as quickly, the protesters dispersed at his command.

Mass mobilization and control is a well-worn strategy of Muqtada al-Sadr, a mercurial figure who has emerged as a powerful force in Iraq's cutthroat political scene with a nationalist, anti-Iran agenda.

Iran arrested five people accused of links to the Israeli spy agency Mossad, state media said on Thursday, in the second such report in as many days. 

"A spy network consisting of five members affiliated with the Zionist regime was identified and arrested," said a police intelligence statement quoted by the official news agency IRNA.

Morocco is jailing journalists after flawed trials for non-political crimes, particularly sexual ones, in order to silence them, part of a range of "techniques of repression", Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

"Moroccan authorities have developed and refined a full manual of techniques to muzzle the opposition, even as it claims to be simply applying the law against them in a neutral manner," it said.

The Israeli army has said that Hamas has rebuilt some of the capabilities that were damaged during last year's Gaza war, including three new tunnels and a series of weapons manufacturing and storage sites.

The army published aerial imagery and maps showing what it said are tunnels, weapons factories and arms depots. It said the installations were near al-Azhar University in Gaza City, a Pepsi factory, mosques, United Nations facilities and hospitals elsewhere in Gaza.