A top rights activist feels populist autocrats could be facing a turning point as people learn that stirring words don't always translate into action, but he says democratic politicians will have to step up with "visionary leadership" to keep autocrats from getting a second chance.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, wants to counter what he sees as "conventional wisdom" holding that autocrats are in the ascendancy. He commented as the New York-based advocacy group on Thursday released its annual report chronicling the human rights situations in roughly 100 countries where it works – from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.

The Gaza Strip has few jobs, little electricity and almost no natural resources. But after four bruising wars with Israel in just over a decade, it has lots of rubble.

Local businesses are now finding ways to cash in on the chunks of smashed concrete, bricks and debris left behind by years of conflict. In a territory suffering from a chronic shortage of construction materials, a bustling recycling industry has sprouted up, providing income to a lucky few but raising concerns that the refurbished rubble is substandard and unsafe.

“Cabinet won’t convene and everybody is now aware of this,” ministerial sources said.

The sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Tuesday, that everyone has “adapted to the disruption.”

Kazakhstan is experiencing the worst street protests the country has seen since gaining independence three decades ago.

The outburst of instability is causing significant concern in Kazakhstan's two powerful neighbors: Russia and China. The country sells most of its oil exports to China and is a key strategic ally of Moscow.

A new settlement might have been reached regarding the resumption of Cabinet sessions, media reports said on Thursday, although some sources denied the possibility.

The resignation of Sudan's prime minister leaves the military in full command and threatens a return to the repressive policies of the regime of ousted strongman Omar al-Bashir, analysts say.

Turkey's consumer prices have soared by the highest rate since 2002, further undermining President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's unorthodox battle for his developing country's "economic independence."

Lebanon is mired in an economic crisis branded by the World Bank as one of the worst in modern times, but officials are yet to strike an international bailout deal.

The financial meltdown began in 2019, and Lebanon defaulted on its debt last year.

Sixteen months since a monster blast ripped through the Lebanese capital, the judge investigating the tragedy has been beset by numerous lawsuits, mostly filed against him by officials demanding his removal.

She had already walked for 60 hours through the wet, dark forests of Poland, trying to make her way to Germany, when the 29-year-old Syrian Kurd twisted her knee.

It wasn't the first setback in Bushra's journey.