A draft media law in Kuwait that threatens to outlaw criticism of top officials is causing anger in the country long considered to have the highest level of free expression in the Gulf.

The bill, proposed by the information ministry, has been condemned by lawmakers as a "violation of democracy" and an attempt to "silence and intimidate" the public.

"There should be no prison sentence for an opinion," parliamentarian Saud Alasfoor posted on X.

It was delicate work for the searchers to remove the woman's body from the rubble of a village that effectively ceased to exist in Morocco's deadliest earthquake in over six decades.

Her 25-year-old fiance Omar Ait Mbarek watched the digging Sunday with his eyes red and full of tears, and surrounded by onlookers, just kilometres from the quake epicentre in the Atlas Mountains.

He was on the phone with her when the shaking started late Friday and he heard kitchen utensils crash to the floor before the line cut out. He knew she was gone.

Moroccan rescuers supported by foreign teams on Monday faced an intensifying race against time to dig out any survivors from the rubble of mountain villages after the country's strongest-ever earthquake.

The 6.8-magnitude quake struck the Atlas mountains late Friday southwest of the tourist centre of Marrakesh. It killed at least 2,862 people and injured more than 2,500 others, according to the latest official toll.

Fatima Sanoussi's wrinkled hand tapped the wall in Marrakesh's historic medina on Sunday. Her house was able to withstand the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked Morocco, but many others did not.

"Now that's what I call solid," said the 68-year-old in a yellow jellaba and black kerchief on her head, before sweeping away dust and stones from the arch leading to her modest home.

Marrakesh has a rich architectural heritage, and much of it suffered damage in Friday's quake, the strongest ever to hit the North African country.

Marrakesh's ancient medina was nearly empty on Sunday after a deadly earthquake that hit Morocco, but it did not stop some tourists who told AFP they chose to stay on.

Tourism is the lifeblood of the North African country's economy, and Marrakesh is its main attraction.

Friday's devastating quake which killed over 2,000 people has also spurred fears of a repeat of the tourism slump suffered during the Covid pandemic.

Some visitors, however, were in no rush to leave.

Morocco said late Sunday it was accepting offers from just four countries: Britain, Spain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, after the earthquake that has killed more than 2,100 people.

But countries around the world have lined up to offered to help Morocco.

- International aid agencies -

The International Federation for Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has released over $1 million from its emergency disaster fund to support the Moroccan Red Crescent's work on the ground.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrapped up Sunday a G20 summit that played down deep divisions over the war in Ukraine and climate change, but gave him a moment in the diplomatic spotlight.

G20 nations have been riven over the Ukraine war since Moscow's invasion last year, with Russian President Vladimir Putin skipping the summit entirely to dodge political opprobrium.

Leaders of the Group of 20, which brings together Russia and China as well as some of Ukraine's most ardent backers, have recently struggled to agree on much, in particular about the 18-month-old invasion.

Gaza Strip exports to Israel resumed Sunday as Israel reopened a trade crossing, days after shutting it over an alleged attempt to smuggle explosives from the Palestinian enclave.

The Kerem Shalom crossing, the only point of entry for goods between Gaza and Israel, was closed last week after the Israeli army said it found explosives hidden in a clothing delivery carried in three trucks.

Annual inflation in Egypt hit 39.7 percent in August, official figures showed Sunday, an all-time high for the country as it grapples with a punishing economic crisis.

It comes immediately after the previous record of 38.2 percent was recorded in July, and over a year into an unrelenting economic crisis that has seen the currency shed half its value against the US dollar since early last year.

World leaders walked barefoot through puddles Sunday to pay their respects to revered Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, after monsoon downpours dampened Prime Minister Narendra Modi's set-piece G20 programme.

Modi welcomed his guests to the site where the apostle of non-violence was cremated in January 1948, the day after he was gunned down by a Hindu nationalist ideologue.

US President Joe Biden was among several visiting heads of state to opt for felt slippers instead of going unshod at the site, where normal footwear is forbidden as a mark of respect.