The first commercial flight from Yemen's rebel-held capital to Saudi Arabia since 2016 took off carrying hajj pilgrims on Saturday, in the latest sign of easing tensions after years of war.
A Yemenia Airways plane carrying 277 travellers departed at around 8 pm (1700 GMT), an official told AFP, seven years after Sanaa's international airport was blockaded by the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed Huthi rebels.
Iran and Saudi Arabia took a further step Saturday to seal their reconciliation as Riyadh's top diplomat made a landmark visit to the Islamic republic following a seven-year rupture.
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan held talks with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian focusing on regional security.
He later met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, and was due to hand him an invitation "to visit the kingdom soon".
In war-torn Syria, parents of teenagers missing in a shipwreck off the Greek coast are clinging onto hope their children might be alive, days after the tragedy.
A fishing boat overloaded with migrants capsized and sank off Greece's Peloponnese peninsula on Wednesday, killing at least 78 people.
While the exact number of passengers on the rusty trawler is unknown, hundreds are feared missing, and relatives and activists have told AFP at least 141 Syrians were aboard.
Sudan's warring generals agreed a new 72-hour ceasefire from Sunday, US and Saudi mediators said, after fighting intensified with deadly air strikes in Khartoum and an exodus of wounded from Darfur over the border into Chad.
Air strikes killed 17 civilians, including five children, in the capital Saturday, a citizens' group said, as medics in Chad reported hundreds of wounded from Darfur seeking treatment.
Lebanese lawmakers on Wednesday failed for a 12th time to elect a new president, as bitter divisions between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its opponents risk miring the country in a protracted power vacuum.
Crisis-hit Lebanon has already been without a head of state for more than seven months, and the previous attempt to elect a president was held on January 19.
Greece's coastguard said 17 migrants died early Wednesday after their boat capsized and sank off the Peloponnese, while around 100 others were rescued.
The accident occurred in international waters in the Ionian Sea and prompted an extensive rescue operation complicated by strong winds, the coastguard said earlier.
Along with navy vessels, the operation included an army plane and helicopter as well as six other boats that were in the area.
Israeli defence exports hit an all-time high of $12.5 billion last year, with Arab countries that recently established ties accounting for nearly a quarter of purchase contracts, officials said Wednesday.
The defence ministry, which oversees and approves the exports of Israel's defence industries, said one quarter of deals were for drone systems, with "missiles, rockets and air defence systems" making up another 19 percent.
Ministry figures show total exports have doubled over the past nine years.
Intissar was only 10 years old when she was forced to undergo genital mutilation, but 30 years later, one clinic is offering help for some of the millions of Egyptian women affected by the still-rampant practice.
Intissar, a journalist who like other women cited here spoke under a pseudonym to protect her identity, recalls having spent 30 years "completely deprived of pleasure, without any connection to my body".
Researchers call them the "American blondes" -– bright-eyed environmentalists tweeting passionately in support of the UAE and its handling of the forthcoming COP28 climate summit. The only problem? They are not real.
Ben, Brianna, Emma, Caitlin and Chloe exude a refreshing optimism about the role of the Gulf state and its COP28 chief, oil executive Sultan Al Jaber, in promoting climate action.
Under-fire PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan is stepping away from day-to-day operations of the tour as he recovers from an undisclosed medical situation, a statement said Tuesday.
Monahan has faced stinging criticism in the wake of the PGA Tour's shock merger with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf last week, with multiple players calling for him to resign.
A brief joint statement from Monahan and the PGA Tour policy board on Tuesday said Monahan would step back from his duties for an unspecified period as he recovers.
