Sudanese protesters celebrated Eid al-Adha among barricades on Saturday during a sit-in against military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his October coup.

Protesters have continued to press the army chief to resign, days after he vowed to make way for a civilian government -- an offer quickly rejected by the country's main civilian umbrella group as a "ruse".

Burhan's surprise move has been met with wide scepticism, and pro-democracy groups announced on Thursday the formation of a "revolutionary council" as protests held firm.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Saturday took part in Eid al-Adha prayers on the second day of his first visit to ex-rebel-stronghold Aleppo in over a decade, state media reported.

Assad began the highly symbolic visit on Friday to Syria's second city, formerly held by rebels and jihadists before it was recaptured in 2016 with crucial Russian backing, marking a major turning point in the country's 11-year war.

"President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday performed Eid al-Adha prayer at Sahabiy Abdallah bin Abbas mosque in Aleppo city," state news agency SANA reported.

Thousands of Muslim pilgrims cast pebbles in the "stoning of the devil" ritual marking the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday Saturday, as a hajj pilgrimage that drew 900,000 visitors began winding down.

Enormous crowds of white-robed worshippers thronged Mina, near Mecca in western Saudi Arabia, for the stoning ritual where each threw seven pebbles at three large concrete walls representing Satan.

Deadly stampedes have previously overshadowed the ritual, the last major act of the hajj, but high temperatures and the ongoing Covid pandemic appeared the biggest immediate risk.

The European Union and Morocco on Friday said they would step up cooperation to combat human smuggling after at least 23 migrants died trying to enter Spain's enclave of Melilla.

They were among around 2,000 migrants, many from Sudan, who tried to break through the border fence last month, according to Moroccan authorities.

It was by far the worst recorded death toll in years of attempted migrant crossings into Spain's Ceuta and Melilla enclaves, which have the EU's only land borders with Africa.

Russia on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have extended cross-border aid to Syria by one year without Damascus's backing.

Western powers then voted down a competing resolution put forward by Moscow that proposed extending approval by just six months.

The authorization for the aid deliveries across the Syrian-Turkish border at Bab al-Hawa, which has been in effect since 2014, is set to expire Sunday.

The aid is a lifeline for more than 2.4 million people in the northwestern Idlib region of Syria, under the control of jihadists and rebels.

The family of prominent Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, shot dead in the occupied West Bank, asked US President Joe Biden on Friday to meet during his visit next week.

Their request came after they condemned a US probe which said it was not possible to determine whose gun fired the bullet which killed the Al Jazeera reporter.

A US citizen, she was shot in the head while covering an Israeli army operation in Jenin on May 11, despite wearing a vest that said "Press."

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Friday visited the former rebel bastion of Aleppo, including its historic Old City, for the first time since war broke out 11 years ago.

The visit to Syria's second city and previously the economic capital is highly symbolic as Assad's 2016 victory there -- with crucial military support from Russia -- was a turning point in the war.

Assad and his wife "visited Aleppo's historic Ummayad mosque", the Syrian presidency said on the Telegram messaging app.

The United Nations Security Council will continue negotiating Friday on extending authorization of aid transfers across Syria's border, one day after a scheduled vote was scrapped following disagreement between Russia and the West.

Moscow is seeking a six-month extension, with the possibility to renew, while Western nations want a full year for the transfers, which are being conducted without approval from Damascus.

Russia's top diplomat stormed out of talks with G20 foreign ministers meeting in Indonesia on Friday as Western powers criticised Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Washington and allies condemned Russia's assault ahead of the meeting before Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov faced what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called a barrage of Western criticism at the closed-door talks.

"What we've heard today already is a strong chorus from around the world... about the need for the aggression to end," Blinken said from the meeting on the resort island of Bali.

The hajj pilgrimage can be physically draining even in ideal conditions, but worshippers this year face an added challenge: scorching sun and temperatures rising to 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit).

Muslims who have flocked to western Saudi Arabia for the five-day ritual, most of which takes place in the open air, have been confronted with a stark reminder of how warming trends are exacerbating what was already a very hot desert climate.