Lebanon’s vaccine rollout is at risk of marginalising refugees and migrant workers who make up a third of the crisis-hit country’s population, Human Rights Watch warned yesterday.

A top former Jordanian royal aide was among several suspects arrested Saturday in a security sweep, as the army cautioned a half-brother of King Abdullah II against damaging the country's security.

The mummified remains of 22 Egyptian pharaohs, including the most powerful ancient queen, were scheduled to be paraded through the streets of Cairo yesterday, in a procession to a new resting place.

Efforts to sketch out initial US and Iranian steps to resume compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal have stalled and Western officials believe Iran may now wish to discuss a wider road map to revive the pact, something Washington is willing to do.

The European Union is set to agree to sanction several Iranian individuals today for human rights abuses, the first such measures since 2013, three EU diplomats said.

The United Nations will urge international donors to pledge up to $10 billion to help Syrians fleeing a decade of civil war in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, saying that the need for humanitarian support has never been so great.

A Saudi man has been sentenced to death by a court in the kingdom for killing a Bangladeshi expatriate in Dammam 15 years ago.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Iran for a visit that Iranian state media said would see the signing of a 25-year cooperation agreement between the two countries, which are both under US sanctions.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prospects for retaining power were uncertain after exit polls in the country’s fourth national election in two years projected yet another stalemate.

Israelis vote on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political survival in a fourth election in two years, with the veteran leader hoping his role in a rapid Covid-19 vaccine campaign will win him another term.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia is seeking to buy armed unmanned aerial vehicles from Turkey, after years of tension between the two regional powers.

Iran has started enriching uranium at its underground Natanz plant with a second type of advanced centrifuge, the IR-4, the UN nuclear watchdog said in a report reviewed by Reuters, in a further breach of Tehran’s deal with major powers.

Human Rights Watch said yesterday that “unidentified projectiles” launched by Yemen’s Huthi rebels caused a March 7 blaze that killed dozens of migrants at a holding facility in the capital.

Protesters burned tyres and blocked roads in Beirut today as the Lebanese currency crashed past a new milestone.

Iranian authorities have charged French tourist Benjamin Briere, arrested 10 months ago, with espionage and “propaganda against the system”, one of his lawyers told Reuters.

The overall death toll for Syria’s civil war has reached 388,652 since it began a decade ago this month, a war monitor said yesterday.

Turkey and Egypt have had their first diplomatic contacts since breaking off relations in 2013, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the United Arab Emirates on Thursday and may meet the Saudi crown prince there in an opportunity to showcase new Gulf ties before a closely contested election in Israel, its public broadcaster Kan said.

Syrian President Bashar Assad and his wife have tested positive for the coronavirus, the president’s office said Monday, with both having only mild symptoms of the illness.

The United States will do what it sees as necessary to defend its interests after a rocket attack last week against Iraq’s Ain al-Sada airbase, which hosts American, coalition and Iraqi forces, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.