Bangladesh's dock workers escalated a strike on Saturday at the country's biggest port, Chattogram, protesting plans by the interim government to lease operating licences to a foreign company.

The walkout, which began in small numbers in October, has now grown to around 200 workers at the port -- Bangladesh's main trade gateway and a vital hub in the global garment supply chain.

"Foreign expert operators would increase the foreign investment and enhance the efficiency," Chattogram Port Authority chairman S. M. Moniruzzaman told AFP.

BEIJING (Reuters) -China's military said on Saturday it monitored and tracked a joint patrol organised by the Philippines in the disputed South China Sea on October 30 and October 31.

Tian Junli, a spokesperson of the People's Liberation Army's Southern Theater Command, said the joint patrol, with unnamed partners, "seriously undermined regional peace and stability". He called the Philippines "a troublemaker" in the region.

By Timour Azhari

DOHA (Reuters) -Major Saudi Arabian firms are planning billion-dollar investments in Syria as part of the kingdom's business-forward approach to the country's recovery, but U.S. sanctions and a fractured Syrian state apparatus pose formidable obstacles.

(Reuters) -A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the Trump administration supports repealing the Caesar Act sanctions on Syria through the National Defense Authorization Act bill, which is being discussed by U.S. lawmakers at the moment.

"The United States is in regular communication with regional partners and welcomes any investment or engagement in Syria that supports the chance for all Syrians to have a peaceful and prosperous country," the spokesperson said.

(Reporting by Timour Azhari;Editing by Alison Williams)

By Daphne Psaledakis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Treasury Department's top sanctions official will travel to the Middle East and Europe on Friday, according to a statement seen by Reuters, as President Donald Trump's administration seeks to increase pressure on Iran.

John Hurley, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, will travel in the coming days to Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Lebanon, according to the statement, in his first trip to the Middle East since taking office.

Selling for nearly $1,000 a cup, a cafe in Dubai is offering the world's most expensive coffee, brewed from Panamanian beans sold at a premium price.

The wealthy emirate is known for its extravagant ventures including an enormous mall with an indoor ski area, the world's tallest building and an artificial island dotted with five-star hotels.

"We felt Dubai was the perfect place for our investment," said Serkan Sagsoz, co-founder of the Julith cafe with the pricey offering.

Moein al-Hattu's home has been ripped apart, its cinder block walls blown out into the street and a dusty grey bomb hangs menacingly from a damaged pillar, its tip resting on a crushed chest of drawers.

Weighing more than a tonne, the munition was dropped during an airstrike on Gaza City during fighting between Israel and Hamas but has not exploded -- yet.

"I'm living in terror and unable to remove it," al-Hattu told AFP, as children wandering through the rubble paused to marvel at the threatening intrusion.

Crowds of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank town of Silwad attended the funeral of a 15-year-old boy on Friday after he was shot dead by Israeli forces overnight.

About 200 mourners clapped and chanted as they carried the body of Yamen Hamed, wrapped in a Palestinian flag, through the crowded streets.

Some waved Palestinian flags, while others clutched those representing the Islamist movement Hamas and its longtime rival Fatah -- the party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Inside, women sobbed over the teenager's body, stroking and kissing his face.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Gabes in southern Tunisia on Friday, calling for the closure of facilities at an ageing chemical factory blamed for hundreds of cases of poisoning.

Anger has reignited in the city over pollution from the plant and its toll on residents' health, while authorities push to expand the output of fertiliser, produced at the complex, to boost Tunisia's struggling economy.

ANKARA (Reuters) -Foreign ministers of some Muslim countries will meet in Istanbul on Monday to discuss the Gaza ceasefire and next steps there, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday, voicing concern over whether the ceasefire will continue.

Speaking at a press conference in Ankara, Fidan said the gathering would include foreign ministers of countries represented at a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in New York in September.