DAMASCUS, Sept 16 - Syria's parliament voted on Wednesday to abolish an Assad-era terrorism court and nullify the legal effects of its rulings, state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV reported, in one of the first significant legislative moves by the country's new assembly.

The Counter-Terrorism Court was established in 2012 as then-President Bashar al-Assad sought to suppress an uprising against his rule, and it was used to prosecute thousands of Syrians for terrorism-related offences.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dawoud Abu Alkas

CAIRO/GAZA, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Gaza rescuers on Wednesday searched through the wreckage of a bombed-out apartment building that collapsed overnight, killing at least 20 Palestinians including children and trapping dozens of others beneath the rubble.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are living in some 2,000 buildings damaged by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza.

Waheda Muhammad Ali braved a terrifying sea journey from the Middle East to Africa to escape heavy fighting in her native Yemen. 

At least 100,000 people have fled Yemen since fighting escalated this month between government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have seized control of its coastline.

BEIJING, Sept 16 (Reuters) - China encourages Iran and the U.S. to remain rational, exercise restraint, return to the interim peace deal they signed in June and "engage in substantive consultations," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart in Beijing on Wednesday.

Sweden said Wednesday it had expelled an Iranian embassy employee and summoned the country's ambassador, accusing Tehran of making threats against Jewish and Israeli interests in Sweden. 

"We know that Iran, over a long period of time, has conducted activities that threaten security in and against Sweden, targeting both individuals who oppose the Iranian regime and various Jewish and Israeli interests in our country," Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said in a statement to AFP. 

VATICAN CITY, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Pope Leo said on Wednesday that recent conflicts in the Middle East had tested relations between Jews and Christians, adding that differing views of the ongoing violence had strained dialogue but not broken it.

In a new decree to mark the Catholic Church's last 60years of efforts at inter-religious dialogue, the pope also reiterated the Church's condemnations of both antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Gaza authorities said Wednesday that 12 children were among the 21 people killed when an apartment building collapsed due to damage sustained in earlier Israeli strikes.

The six-storey building, which had four apartments per floor, crumbled overnight onto nearby homes and tents in the Tal al-Hawa area of Gaza City, according to the civil defence agency, which works as a rescue service under Hamas authority.

ISTANBUL, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Eight members of Turkish LGBTQ+ rights group Kaos GL were jailed pending trial on Tuesdayas part of a national operation the government says is protecting family values and children, but which rights groups say targets fundamental rights.

Lawyers for Kaos said that besides those jailed, seven other members of the group,including a journalist, were released under judicial supervision.

By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA, Sept 15 (Reuters) - The recovery of hundreds of bodies from the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes in Gaza during the war that began nearly three years ago has raised fresh concerns about possible war crimes, theU.N. human rights chief said on Tuesday.

Volker Turk said the remains of what appeared to be entire families were being unearthed from sites destroyed during Israeli attacks, adding that many victims were women and children.

Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity in the crackdown on 2022 protests that left hundreds dead, Amnesty International said Wednesday, adding Tehran's suppression of new demonstrations this year bore the "same hallmarks" but on an even wider scale.

The crackdown in 2022 amounted to "crimes against humanity" including murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearance, Amnesty said in a report marking four years since those protests, warning that the authorities' actions earlier this year were "on an even deadlier and more staggering scale".