Israeli artist Sigalit Landau wades into the warm, briny waters of the Dead Sea to inspect her latest creations -- everyday objects coated in salt crystals that glisten in the bright morning sun.
The lowest point on Earth is also Landau's studio where she submerges objects -- from a ballet dress to a lampshade's wire frame -- for weeks until they are magically transformed by ice-like layers of salt.
Iraq's powerful Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada Sadr on Wednesday called on the judiciary to dissolve parliament by the end of next week, urging his supporters to keep up a sit-in outside the legislature.
Iraq, which has been without a new government in the wake of elections last October, has been facing a deepening political crisis after Sadr's supporters stormed parliament late last month.
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on Syria to help secure the release of American journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted a decade ago in Damascus.
"We know with certainty that he has been held by the Syrian regime," Biden said in a statement. "We have repeatedly asked the government of Syria to work with us so that we can bring Austin home.
"On the tenth anniversary of his abduction, I am calling on Syria to end this and help us bring him home," he said.
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed into law a bill boosting benefits for veterans exposed to toxic fumes, a cause close to his own heart after his son died of brain cancer.
Burn pits, lit up with jet fuel, were commonly used to dispose of waste in military camps during the years of the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
They exposed large numbers of servicemen and women to potentially harmful toxins, although there is not always a proven link between the exposure and later illnesses.
Iran dismissed as "fiction" Thursday US allegations it had plotted to kill former White House national security adviser John Bolton in retaliation for the assassination of one of its top commanders.
The US claim comes at a crunch moment in talks on reviving a nuclear deal between Iran and major powers that Washington had abandoned in 2018 but has said it wants to rejoin. Iran is now considering what European Union mediators have called a "final" text.
Tunisia's judicial authorities on Wednesday revoked the sacking in early June by President Kais Saied of almost 50 judges, a court spokesman told AFP.
A June 1 presidential decree in the North African country saw Saied fire 57 judges, after accusing many of corruption and other crimes.
His move, which rights groups called "a deep blow to judicial independence", sparked a nationwide strike by judges.
Fifty-three of those sacked -- including some accused of "adultery" -- had lodged appeals with the administrative court against Saied's move.
The World Cup's start will be brought forward by a day to allow hosts Qatar to play the opening game, sources told AFP on Wednesday, just over three months before the competition gets underway.
Qatar will now play Ecuador on November 20, 24 hours earlier than planned, in a move that FIFA's ruling council was expected to confirm soon, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
The change will see the tournament, which was switched to November-December to avoid the Gulf country's searing summer heat, keep to its tradition of the hosts playing the opening match.
Iran dismissed as "childish" Wednesday claims by the United States that an Iranian satellite launched by Russia is intended for spying.
The satellite, called Khayyam, was launched into space on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Russian-controlled Baikonur Cosmodrome in neighbouring Kazakhstan on Tuesday.
Responding to the launch, Washington said Russia's growing cooperation with Iran should be viewed as a "profound threat".
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi on Wednesday inaugurated the reconstruction of Mosul international airport, still in disrepair five years after the battle that expelled the Islamic State group from the city.
Entire sectors of the northern metropolis have remained in ruins since the July 2017 recapture of Mosul by Iraqi forces backed by a US-led multinational coalition.
The airport, which was heavily damaged in the battle, has been disused since the jihadists seized Mosul and adjacent areas in 2014.
The opening match for this year's World Cup, between hosts Qatar and Ecuador, will be brought forward by one day to November 20, World Cup sources told AFP on Wednesday.
The move, which should be approved by the FIFA Council before the 100-day countdown starts this week, will retain the tradition of the first match featuring the host country.
Under the existing arrangement, Senegal and the Netherlands play the first game on November 21, followed by the official inauguration match between Qatar and Ecuador later that day.
