Emirates, the Middle East's biggest airline, topped up its order of Boeing 777X planes on Monday despite years of delays, delivering a vote of confidence to the US manufacturer at the Dubai Airshow.

The order of 65 777-9s, valued at $38 billion including engines, came despite last month's announcement that delivery was now due in 2027 -- seven years behind the original schedule.

Emirates, already the biggest customer for the Boeing 777, now has 270 777X, 10 777 freighters and 35 Boeing 787s on order.

By Andreas Rinke

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany on Monday moved to resume weapons sales to Israel that had been suspended since August over the war in Gaza, but said the decision is subject to the observance of the ceasefire and the large-scale provision of humanitarian aid.

Germany, the second-largest exporter of arms to Israel after the United States, announced a suspension of some arms exports to Israel in August, amid mounting popular pressure over the war.

South Africa said Monday the surprise arrival of 153 Palestinians on a plane last week indicated "a clear agenda to cleanse Palestinians" out of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The group landed in Johannesburg on a chartered flight on Thursday without departure stamps from Israel in their passports.

Reports said a shadowy organisation named Al-Majd was involved in their travel from Gaza.

"We are suspicious, as the South African government, about the circumstances surrounding the arrival of the plane," Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told reporters.

The Kurdish militant PKK said Monday its forces had withdrawn from a key border area in northern Iraq in a move aimed at shoring up the peace process with Turkey.

The pull out comes six months after the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) formally renounced its armed struggle against Turkey, drawing a line under four decades of violence that had claimed some 50,000 lives.

"As of the evening of November 16, our forces.. in the Zap region have been withdrawn," the group said in a statement published by Firat news agency.

NICOSIA (Reuters) -Leaders of ethnically-split Cyprus will meet on November 20, officials said on Monday, marking their first encounter since the election of a new Turkish Cypriot leader last month.

Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman and Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides will meet at the residence of the envoy to the United Nations peacekeeping force on the island. The announcement of the meeting was issued simultaneously by the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides.

By Samia Nakhoul

DUBAI (Reuters) -On his first White House visit since the killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi sparked global outrage, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is on a mission to reclaim his place on the world stage and prove to President Donald Trump that backing his forceful leadership was worth the gamble.

By Timour Azhari and Matt Spetalnick

RIYADH/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A visit by Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler to the White House for talks on Tuesday with U.S. President Donald Trump aims to deepen decades-old cooperation on oil and security while broadening ties in commerce, technology and potentially even nuclear energy.

As the referee's whistle signalled the start of the match, two five-year-old Iranian girls faced off, delivering a closely watched karate bout to a captivated audience -- a sign of the changing attitude toward martial arts in the Islamic Republic in recent years.

The two young opponents, clad in crisp white karategi with coloured belts and protective headgear, circled each other on the tatami, the floor covering used for practising Japanese martial arts.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Republicans are working on legislation that will impose sanctions on any country doing business with Russia, and he said Iran may get added to that list.

"As you know, I suggested it, so any country that does business with Russia will be very severely sanctioned," Trump told reporters. "They may add Iran to that," he added.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler)

The UN Security Council voted Monday in favor of a US-drafted resolution bolstering Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan that includes the deployment of an international force and a path to a future Palestinian state.

There were 13 votes in favor of the text, which US President Trump claimed would lead to "further Peace all over the World," with only Russia and China abstaining -- but no vetoes.