Relatives of Saudis facing heavy sentences for social media posts are calling on the kingdom's de facto ruler to take action after he voiced shame over their cases.

In a rare interview with Fox News last week, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was asked about Mohammed al-Ghamdi, a retired school teacher sentenced to death in July for posts on X, formerly Twitter, where he had around 10 followers.

Prince Mohammed acknowledged that details of the case described in media reports were "true" and said he disapproved of the judgement.

The leaders of nine Mediterranean and southern European countries called Friday for a "significant increase" in the EU's efforts to tackle the thorny issue of migration at its roots, in origin and transit countries.

Italian far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that front-line countries were struggling to deal with arrivals now, but without "structural" solutions from the bloc, "everyone will be overwhelmed".

Rana Hariri doesn't know when she'll be able to send her children back to school, as Lebanon's grinding economic crisis thrusts the fate of public education into uncertainty.

Lack of funding for the school system has precipitated repeated teachers' strikes and school closures, resulting in children being increasingly pulled out of the formal learning system, and in some cases being forced to work.

Hariri, 51, says her nine-year-old daughter Aya "repeatedly asks me: 'When will I go back to school?' But I do not know what to tell her."

Military strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose forces dominate eastern Libya, held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday, his forces and the Kremlin said.

Haftar, who sponsors a rival administration to Libya's UN-backed government in Tripoli, has long cultivated close relations with Moscow and relies heavily on Russian mercenary group Wagner for military support.

Haftar "held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu", his Libyan Arab Armed Forces said on its official Facebook page without giving further details.

"The Immortals" have spoken: the 388-year-old Academie Francaise, custodian and promoter of the French language, has a new leader in the form of author Amin Maalouf.

The French-Lebanese writer, 74, becomes only the 33rd person to occupy the post of "perpetual secretary" since the body's founding under King Louis XIII in 1635.

He takes over from Helene Carrere d'Encausse, who died last month having held the post since 1999.

Charities rescuing migrants stranded in the Mediterranean play a vital role in saving lives, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock insisted Thursday, amid a spat with Italy over Berlin's funding for such organisations.

Baerbock told a joint news conference with Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani that as long as people were dying trying to reach Europe, Berlin stood by its backing of such NGOs despite Italian complaints.

"Volunteer sea rescuers have a life-saving task in the Mediterranean," she said.

Israel's top court heard appeals Thursday against a law restricting how a prime minister can be removed from office, as current premier Benjamin Netanyahu faces protests against the government's judicial overhaul.

The hearing got underway as Israel is deeply divided over the judicial reforms, which have triggered one of the country's biggest ever protest movements against the hard-right government.

Germany on Thursday signed a deal to acquire the Israeli-made Arrow 3 hypersonic missile system that will become a key part of Europe's defence against air attack.

The signing of the deal was a "historic day" for both countries, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said at a press conference alongside his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant.

Worth around $3.5 billion (3.3 billion euros), the sale is the biggest ever deal for Israel's military industry.

The Arrow 3 system would make "German air defence ready for the future", Pistorius said.

Survivors of a fire that tore through an Iraqi wedding and those mourning the at least 100 lives lost filled the pews for a Christian mass Thursday, two days after the disaster.

Mourners wept or quietly embraced one another under the arches of the Syriac Catholic church of Al-Tahera, where portraits of the dead lined the stairs, showing men, women and children of all ages.

Israel on Thursday allowed thousands of Palestinian workers to cross from Gaza for the first time in two weeks through the Erez crossing, following violent protests that rocked the blockaded enclave.

The Israeli authorities had initially closed off the transit route, the only gateway for pedestrians from the Gaza Strip, for the Jewish new year holiday on September 15.