A rapper arrested in October on capital charges in Iran's crackdown on nationwide protests needs urgent medical treatment, a rights group said Thursday, urging an international campaign for his release.

The New-York based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) also said Toomaj Salehi was being deprived of his right to a fair defence in his trial, for which a date has yet to be set.

Salehi, 33, faces charges related to the protests that could see him sentenced to death. He is being held in solitary confinement in Dastgerd prison in central Iran, the rights group said.

Pro-democracy activists in Sudan marched against the army and paramilitaries Thursday as the civilian opposition marked a key anniversary in the decades-old struggle against military rule with new protests.

April 6 is a symbolic date for Sudan's civilian opposition -- the anniversary of uprisings in 1985 and 2019 that ended up ousting two leaders who had seized power in coups.

Top diplomats from Middle East rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia met in Beijing on Thursday, resuming diplomatic relations and pledging to work together to bring "security and stability" to their turbulent region.

In a joint statement released after talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the two sides vowed to continue to work together to improve ties.

In a Tripoli arcade, players banter amid the bleeping and music of video games. Isolated by decades of dictatorship and post-revolution chaos, Libyan gamers are finally taking on the world.

It's late at night in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and in the suburb of Tajoura, teenagers with headphones clamped to their ears gaze into state-of-the-art screens in the ultra-modern gaming complex.

One sits behind a steering wheel, racing a car. Others make their way through virtual worlds, huge 3D glasses covering their faces.

The families of women murdered by men demonstrated Wednesday in defence of a prominent Turkish anti-femicide campaign group accused of activity against law and morals.

Prosecutors had filed a lawsuit in April against We Will Stop Femicide Platform, one of the country's leading feminist organisations. If convicted, it could be shut down.

The group has been campaigning against the murder and abuse of women since its foundation in 2010.

French energy firm TotalEnergies announced Wednesday an agreement with Iraq on a long-delayed $10 billion project to improve the country's rundown electricity grid after resolving disputes over the terms of the deal.

The contract -- which includes investments in oil, gas and solar production -- was signed in September 2021 but a new government took office in Iraq last year and its demands did not please TotalEnergies.

In Jordan, a sumptuous dish that has its roots in an ancient war has evolved over the centuries to be widely cherished as a symbol of peace and hospitality.

Mansaf -- the kingdom's national dish of lamb cooked in dried yogurt, served with rice and nuts -- is "the king of the Jordanian table", says Ashraf Al-Mubaideen, 47, who runs a traditional restaurant in Amman.

"If you want to honour your guest, there's nothing finer than mansaf," agrees his business partner Tamer al-Majali, 42, about the custom of greeting guests with huge platters piled high.

Iran has named an ambassador to the United Arab Emirates nearly eight years after his predecessor left, as a thaw in relations with the Gulf Arab states picks up pace.

"After some eight years, the foreign ministry has named Reza Ameri as the Islamic Republic of Iran's new ambassador to the United Arab Emirates," Iran's official IRNA news agency reported late Tuesday.

The move comes after Iran welcomed an Emirati ambassador last September ending a six-year absence.

Latif Dalyan offers shirts and sweatpants at knock-down prices to Turkey's earthquake victims from a storefront surrounded by piles of debris.

The last person the 58-year-old shopkeeper wants to blame for his ruined city's troubles is the country's president.

"If there is one man who can make this country stand up again, it is Recep Tayyip Erdogan," Dalyan said near the February quake's epicentre in the city of Kahramanmaras.

"May God give every country a leader like him."

Global criticism and concern mounted Wednesday after Israeli police clashed with Palestinians inside Islam's third-holiest site, sparking a military exchange of rockets and air strikes, with fears of further escalation.

Two more rockets were fired late Wednesday from the Israel-blockaded Gaza Strip towards Israel, the army and witnesses said, and fresh altercations broke out at Al-Aqsa mosque during the Jewish Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.