The Lebanese parliament voted in on Sunday will have to tackle overdue reforms required for international assistance the cash-strapped country desperately needs.

After Lebanon struck a conditional deal with the International Monetary Fund for a $3 billion aid package, AFP looks at the challenges that await incoming lawmakers in a country where there is little consensus on a roadmap for financial recovery.

- How bad is the crisis? -

Since 2019, Lebanon has suffered an unprecedented economic decline caused by decades of mismanagement and corruption.

Saudi Aramco on Wednesday dethroned Apple as the world's most valuable company as surging oil prices drove up shares and tech stocks slumped.

The Saudi Arabian national petroleum and natural gas company, billed as the largest oil producing company in the world, was valued at $2.42 trillion based on the price of its shares at close of market.

Apple, meanwhile, has seen its share price drop over the past month and was valued at $2.37 trillion when official trading ended on Wednesday.

Greg Norman batted away concerns over Saudi Arabia's rights record and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by saying "we've all made mistakes" as he defended his new money-spinning golf tour.

The Australian former world number one is heading the new multimillion-dollar LIV Golf Invitational Series which is heavily backed by Saudi financing and has sparked accusations of "sportswashing".

Five Egyptian soldiers and seven jihadists were killed early Wednesday when the army was attacked in the Sinai region, the military said, the second such deadly attack in days.

Jihadist fighters attacked at dawn, an army spokesman said in a statement. "One officer and four soldiers were killed and two other soldiers were wounded," the statement read, adding that seven jihadists were killed.

Al Jazeera's newsdesk told Shireen Abu Akleh they would keep a spot for her "at the top of the hour" after she said in an email she was going to cover an Israeli operation in the Palestinian town of Jenin.

"But she never turned up," said Mohamed Moawad, the Arabic channel's head of output, fighting back tears as he told of the final contacts with the veteran journalist on a typically risky mission.

"The last communication was 20 minutes before this heinous crime happened," Moawad told AFP shortly after staff held their own broadcast tribute to the 51-year-old.

Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed Wednesday while covering clashes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was among Arab media's most prominent figures and widely hailed for her bravery and professionalism.

In the hours after her death, young Palestinians described Abu Akleh, 51, as an inspiration, especially to women, many of whom were motivated to pursue journalism because of her.

The global coalition against the Islamic State group met Wednesday in Morocco to coordinate efforts to prevent the jihadists staging a revival in the Middle East and North Africa.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to have co-hosted the meeting with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, but Washington's top diplomat tested positive for Covid-19 and was replaced by senior diplomat Victoria Nuland.

The European Union's coordinator for nuclear talks with Iran, Enrique Mora, held talks in Tehran on Wednesday with the Islamic republic's chief negotiator, state media reported.

The meeting between Mora and Iranian Deputy Vice President Ali Bagheri is "currently taking place", according to state news agency IRNA, which circulated pictures of the encounter without providing further details.

French authorities have opened a case against Interpol's Emirati president over accusations of torture and arbitrary detention by two Britons who were detained in the UAE, a source close to the inquiry told AFP on Wednesday.

The case into suspected complicity in torture by Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi was confirmed by France's anti-terror prosecutors office (PNAT), which has handed it to an investigating magistrate who will now decide whether to press charges.

Calls mounted Wednesday for an independent investigation into the killing of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead as she covered an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank.

The Qatar-based TV channel charged that Israeli forces deliberately and "in cold blood" shot Abu Akleh, 51, a Palestinian-American and a Christian, in the head during the unrest in the Jenin refugee camp.