The United Nations on Wednesday said $3.03 billion would be needed to provide urgent aid in conflict-ravaged Sudan and for over one million expected to flee into neighbouring countries this year.

Needs have soared since a bloody conflict erupted in Sudan last month, the UN said, dramatically revising up its response plan.

"Today, 25 million people -- more than half the population of Sudan -- needs humanitarian aid and protection," Ramesh Rajasingham, head of the UN humanitarian agency's Geneva bureau, told reporters.

In a Moroccan oasis town on the edge of the Sahara, nomads in turbans and tunics are thwacking a camel-wool ball across the desert in a traditional pastime: sand hockey.

Similar in many ways to field and ice hockey, but played barefoot and with palm wood sticks, the ancient game is called "mokhacha" in the local Hassani Arabic dialect.

"We play mokhacha in our spare time," said one participant, Hamadi Boudani, at the recent International Nomads Festival in the southern town of M'hamid El Ghizlane.

Egyptian luxury brands are harnessing traditional craftsmanship from jewellery design to carpet weaving to bring the country's ancient cultural riches to the world.

Experts in the sector say the global appeal of Arab and Islamic designs from other countries shows Egypt could do more to promote its rich, millennia-old artistic heritage.

The sister of a Saudi national imprisoned after tweets criticizing the government on Tuesday sued both Twitter and the kingdom, alleging they worked together to support "repression."

The lawsuit filed in a US federal court in San Francisco, which named powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a conspirator, seeks a jury trial to determine damages.

Abdulrahman al-Sadhan was working for the Red Crescent in Riyadh when he was taken away from the office in 2018 and later handed a 20-year jail sentence.

QatarEnergy said Tuesday it awarded a contract worth about $10 billion to a joint venture of France's Technip Energies and Consolidated Contractors Company, in the Gulf emirate's latest major gas deal.

The state-owned hydrocarbon giant said the contract was for the engineering, procurement and construction of the North Field South (NFS) project.

It put the value of the deal at "around $10 billion" and said its "scope covers the construction of two mega" liquefied natural gas trains with a combined capacity of 16 million tonnes per year.

A French investigating magistrate on Tuesday issued an international arrest warrant for Lebanon's central bank chief Riad Salameh, a source close to the case said.

Salameh earlier failed to appear for questioning by French investigators who want to know how he amassed sizeable assets across Europe, his lawyer said.

The investigators suspect Salameh of building his network of real estate and banking assets with the help of a complex fraudulent financial system and extensive misuse of Lebanese public funds during his three decades as central bank boss.

The hospital in southern Yemen was decked out with roses and red carpet runners last week for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in its cardiac wing, newly refurbished with Saudi funds.

Many patients, however, had been cleared from the air-conditioned lobby and forced to wait for hours outside in stifling heat, shouting "I'm tired! I'm sick!" at passing dignitaries, among them the Saudi ambassador.

Turkey's secular opposition leader may have succeeded in forcing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan into his first ever runoff, but his chances of winning on May 28 are remote.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu was predicted to perform well in Sunday's first round but ended up with just under 45 percent while Erdogan fell fractionally short of the 50-percent threshold required for an outright victory.

His six-party alliance now needs to accomplish seemingly impossible electoral gymnastics to unseat Erdogan, who needs just a sliver of extra support to extend his two decades in power to 2028.

After her house was levelled by an Israeli strike, Najah Nabhan wonders what will become of her and dozens of relatives left homeless by the latest fighting to hit Gaza.

"I'd barely reached the street, then the house was bombed," said Nabhan, standing next to the mangled heap of concrete slabs and breeze blocks that had been the family home.

Dozens of homes were destroyed during five days of fighting, which erupted when the Israeli military launched deadly strikes on top militants from the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Thousands from across the occupied West Bank demonstrated Monday, waving Palestinian flags to mark the 75th anniversary of the "Nakba" or "catastrophe" which they associate with Israel's creation.

According to the UN, more than 760,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes in 1948.

In Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, protesters carried black banners that read "Return" and also raised images of old keys, a symbol of the Palestinians' plight and demand for recognition of their right to return.