By Maher Nazeh

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Iraqis are bracing for yet another election they fear will change little, with many seeing the pro-reform campaign banners for the November 11 vote as empty gestures from elites who have delivered little since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Years of corruption, high unemployment and poor public services have blighted daily life since then even as democratic elections have become standard following decades of repressive dictatorship under Saddam Hussein.

GAZA (Reuters) -The Israeli military attacked the Gaza Strip for a third day on Thursday night, killing two people, the Palestinian Authority's official news agency said, in another test of a fragile ceasefire agreement.

One Palestinian was killed by Israeli shelling and another was shot dead by Israeli forces, WAFA said on Friday.

The Israeli military did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

A third Palestinian died of wounds sustained from previous Israeli shelling, the news agency reported.

By Abdulrhman Al-Ansi and Khaled Abdullah

SANAA (Reuters) -Forty-three detained local United Nations staff will face trial on suspicion of links to an Israeli airstrike that assassinated top Houthi leaders in August, the acting foreign minister of Yemen’s Houthi government, Abdulwahid Abu Ras, told Reuters.

In August, the prime minister of Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi-run government and several other ministers were killed in an Israeli strike on the capital Sanaa, in the first such attack to kill senior officials.

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said they had arrested several fighters accused of abuses during the capture of El-Fasher, with the United Nations demanding an investigation Friday into the "horrendous accounts" of atrocities emerging from the city.

At war with the army since April 2023, the RSF seized El-Fasher on Sunday, dislodging the army's last stronghold in the western Darfur region after an 18-month siege marked by bombardment and starvation.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) -The ceasefire in Gaza has eased the trauma of Israel's air strikes and blockade but a shortage of cash has left Palestinians unable to spend what little money they have without falling victim to wartime profiteers.

Banks, many damaged or destroyed along with homes, schools and other institutions across Gaza during two years of war, began reopening on October 16, six days after the ceasefire was announced. Queues soon formed but people came away disappointed.

With much pomp and circumstance, Cairo is due to inaugurate on Saturday the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum, widely presented as the crowning jewel on authorities' efforts to overhaul the country's vital tourism industry.

With a panoramic view of the Giza pyramids plateau, the GEM houses thousands of artefacts spanning more than 5,000 years of Egyptian antiquity at a whopping cost of over $1 billion.

More than two decades in the making, the ultra-modern museum anticipates five million visitors annually, with never-before-seen relics on display.

By Andrius Sytas and Janis Laizans

RIGA (Reuters) -Latvia’s parliament voted on Thursday to quit an international treaty aimed at combating violence against women, after a conservative partner in the ruling coalition broke ranks to support the move in defiance of both the prime minister and president.

The Istanbul Convention, established by the Council of Europe and signed by dozens of member states, defines violence against women as a violation of human rights and addresses various forms of gender-based violence.

(Reuters) -Talks between Afghanistan and Pakistani officials concluded in Istanbul after several days of mediation led by Ankara and Doha, with both sides agreeing to continue discussions , Afghanistan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Friday.

(Reporting by Ariba Shahid; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Powered by its sovereign wealth fund of nearly $1 trillion, Saudi Arabia is backing its new AI firm Humain, entering a highly competitive sector some fear is a bubble ready to burst.

The company, launched in May, is bankrolled by Saudi's powerful Public Investment Fund, which has played a key role in financing the kingdom's so-called gigaprojects -- major developments aimed at boosting and diversifying its oil-reliant economy.

More than 24,000 tons of UN aid has reached Gaza since the start of a ceasefire earlier this month, a UN official said on Thursday while calling for NGOs to be allowed to assist in its distribution.

While aid volumes are significantly up compared to the period before the ceasefire, humanitarians still face funding shortfalls, the UN says, as well as issues coordinating with Israeli authorities.