Reuters

Overlooked by a portrait of President Bashar al-Assad and offering sticky sweets, a Syrian tourism booth in Dubai is trying to seize on an emerging rapprochement with Arab states to win back Gulf tourists it lost during more than a decade of war.

Greece is home to many of the world's leading ship owners, managers and the broader maritime services industry.

The dialogue, announced by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in April 2022, aims to produce political, economic and social reform recommendations that could be presented for Sisi's consideration.

The U.N. agency said Peter Ben Embarek, a Danish scientist who previously headed up its 'One Health' initiative on diseases jumping from animals to humans, was removed from his post last year.

The U.N. has warned that fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) risks causing a humanitarian catastrophe that could spill over into other countries.

The government and Tigray forces agreed to end the hostilities in November, which has allowed additional aid to reach the region and for some services to be restored.

The European Union executive proposed new laws on Wednesday to step up fighting corruption through aligning definitions and penalties for graft crimes across the bloc, as well as introducing sanctions for corrupt foreigners.

Saudia Arabia signalled approval for Israel's U.S.-sponsored forging of ties with Gulf neighbours United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020 but has held off on following suit, saying Palestinian goals for statehood should be addressed first.

A Palestinian hunger striker died in Israeli custody on Tuesday, sparking an exchange of fire between Israel and armed groups in Gaza, before three Palestinian officials said the sides had agreed to a ceasefire.

The measures have yet to make much headway against opposition to the hijab, and could worsen economic pressures if they result in the closure of businesses, Iranian activists say.

More than 66,000 Syrians ended up in Sudan after their homeland was torn apart by the conflict since 2011, according to U.N. figures, drawn by easy entry requirements.

The rockets could help Ukraine weaken Russian ground positions and provide advancing Ukrainian ground forces with air support as Kyiv plans a spring offensive.

Ukraine harvested a record 86 million tonnes of grain in 2021 and 53 million tonnes in 2022, the first year of Russia's invasion.

Ukraine's military vowed on Tuesday not to give up the eastern city of Bakhmut as it prepares to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces.

India, backed by China, is trying to build a consensus within the G20 group to let countries choose a roadmap to cut carbon emissions instead of setting a deadline to end the use of fossil fuels, three Indian government officials said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the two deaths in his nightly video address, vowing: "The Russian occupiers will receive our answer for every such strike.

A Ukrainian farmer has come up with a novel way to remove mines left in his fields after Russia's invasion -- he's kitted out his tractor with protective panels stripped from Russian tanks and operates it by remote control.

ISIS leader Abu Hussein al-Qurashi's six-month rule ended when he detonated a suicide vest during a Turkish special forces raid in northwest Syria on Saturday after refusing to surrender, a senior Turkish security official said.

The White House on Monday estimated that Russia's military has suffered 100,000 casualties in the last five months in fighting in the Bakhmut region and other areas of Ukraine.

Egypt said on Monday that 40,000 Sudanese had crossed its border, and the United Nations warned that more than 800,000 may flee Sudan.

A U.N. Security Council committee on Monday agreed to allow the Taliban administration's foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to travel to Pakistan from Afghanistan next week to meet with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China, diplomats said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has spent weeks using "restraint" and "responsible" to describe his second budget since coming to power in May last year.

The talks are the first between Syria's government and a group of Arab countries since a decision to suspend Syria's membership of the Arab League in 2011 after a crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian refugees detained by security forces in Lebanon and deported have been subject to arrest and forced conscription upon return to their war-ravaged homeland, their relatives and rights advocates have told Reuters.

The Palestinian health ministry said 17-year-old Jibril Kamal died after being shot in the head. Six other people were wounded during the raid, with three of them in serious condition, the ministry said.

Both sides said a formal ceasefire agreement which was due to expire at midnight would be extended for a further 72 hours, in a move the RSF said was "in response to international, regional and local calls".

In the first days after the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion, Ukrainian officials said Russian intelligence units tried to break into Kyiv but were defeated and failed to reach Bankova Street in the centre, home to the presidential offices.

Russian forces, which have struggled for months to capture Bakhmut, are slowly taking over more and more of the city.

The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said on Thursday it would stop receiving fundraising via the crypto currency bitcoin, a method it has used for years, citing an increase in "hostile" activity against donors.