Egyptian researcher Patrick Zaki and lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer walked out of prison Thursday, relatives said, a day after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pardoned them in the wake of an international outcry.
Zaki was sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday for "spreading false news", prompting some participants to walk out of a so-called national dialogue aimed at giving the opposition in Egypt a voice.
Air strikes, street battles and artillery fire shook Sudan's capital Khartoum and the major southern city of El-Obeid on Thursday, witnesses told AFP.
"Artillery fire targeted paramilitary bases of the Rapid Support Forces," said a resident of El-Obeid, 350 kilometres (220 miles) southwest of Khartoum.
Fighting between the RSF and the regular army, led by feuding generals, has killed at least 3,000 people and displaced more than 3.3 million since April 15.
In a pristine patch of Lebanon's north coast, a rare marine visitor has fuelled opposition to a seafront development, in a country where unchecked construction has obstructed access to beaches.
Residents of Amchit say a Mediterranean monk seal sometimes visits the area, taking refuge in the crystal-blue waters of a sea-cave accessible only by wading or paddling between low rocks to reach a tiny, sheltered cove.
But local environmental group Terre Liban has warned that a proposed development on the ground above risks causing the cave to collapse, destroying the secluded site.
Tensions flared between Iraq and Sweden Thursday over a Stockholm protest in which a man stomped on the Koran, weeks after he had burnt pages of Islam's holy book, sparking widespread Muslim anger.
News that Swedish authorities would permit the protest to proceed on free speech grounds had led hundreds of Iraqis to storm and torch Sweden's Baghdad embassy in a chaotic pre-dawn attack.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ended a Gulf trip aimed at securing investments by signing agreements worth more than $50 billion in the United Arab Emirates, Emirati state media said Wednesday.
His tour, which also included stops in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, saw Erdogan preside over the signing of lucrative deals to boost the ailing Turkish economy.
Turkey is battling a currency collapse and soaring inflation that have battered its economy.
Hundreds of Israeli activists marched from Tel Aviv towards Jerusalem on Wednesday to protest against the hard-right government's planned judicial overhaul, which they fear threatens liberal democracy.
"It is time for a decisive move," said protest organiser Shikma Bressler of the 70-kilometre (43-mile) multi-day march, set to reach the Knesset or parliament by Saturday. "We need you... to join us."
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi granted a pardon Wednesday to researcher Patrick Zaki, state media said, a day after Zaki's three-year jail term sparked an outcry from local rights groups and Western governments.
The state-run Al-Ahram newspaper said Sisi also granted a presidential pardon to Mohamed al-Baqer, the lawyer for Alaa Abdel Fattah, Egypt's best known political prisoner.
Zaki's sentence on Tuesday for "spreading false news" had prompted some participants to walk out of a government dialogue aimed at giving the opposition a voice.
The extreme heat in the northern hemisphere is putting an increasing strain on healthcare systems, hitting those least able to cope the hardest, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
The WHO said the heat often worsens pre-existing conditions, saying it was particularly concerned about those with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and asthma.
Millions of people across three continents are enduring a sustained spell of dangerous heat on Wednesday as temperature records tumble.
Morocco's top court has rejected the final appeals of two journalists, Omar Radi and Soulaimane Raissouni, imprisoned on sexual assault charges they deny, their lawyer said Wednesday.
The court of cassation in Rabat on Tuesday "rejected our appeal and confirmed the prison sentences" of the two men who have been behind bars since 2021, lawyer Miloud Kandil told AFP.
Radi, 37, was handed a six-year prison term and Raissouni, 51, a five-year sentence in trials that defence lawyers labelled "flawed".
A road crash in Algeria killed 34 people when a passenger bus collided head-on with a pickup truck carrying fuel cans and burst into flames Wednesday, deep in the southern Sahara region, officials said.
The North African country's deadliest road crash in years also left 12 others injured, many with severe burns, Algeria's civil defence agency said.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, on a state visit to China, expressed "his deep distress and sadness" and offered "his sincere condolences" to the victims' families.
