Israeli researchers say they have uncovered a document showing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was a Soviet agent in the 1980s, but his office called it a smear campaign and pointed to suspicious timing.

Close to 1.5mn Muslims from around the world yesterday descended on Saudi Arabia for the annual Haj pilgrimage.

The US pressed Russia on Thursday for a "true cessation of hostilities" in Syria ahead of a expected high-level peace talks in Geneva, warning that its patience is running thin.

A UN rights expert on Thursday urged Kuwait to abolish its "kafala" system for foreign workers which has long been criticised.

Close to 1.5mn Muslims from around the world descended on Thursday on Saudi Arabia for the annual Haj pilgrimage, undeterred by last year's stampede disaster but with Iranians absent.

Syria’s opposition yesterday made a fresh call for a transition to democracy without President Bashar al-Assad, as Russia and the United States agreed to hold a new round of talks aimed at ending the war.

The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) has expressed condemnation and denunciation of the statement issued on Tuesday by the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, saying that it included false and disgraceful accusations against Saudi Arabia.

A group of 292 Syrians went back to the town of Jarablus from Turkey yesterday, marking the first formal return of civilians since Ankara launched a military incursion two weeks ago to try to secure the border region, a Turkish official said.

At least 22 people were killed in a bus collision and five died when a train derailed in separate accidents south of Cairo yesterday during a busy holiday travel time.

At least four people died in widespread flash floods caused by heavy rains which lashed Greece overnight, the country's fire brigade said on Wednesday.

Turkish authorities detained journalists, a politician and a pollster on Wednesday and issued arrest warrants for another 105 people over suspected links to a US-based Islamic cleric blamed for a failed coup on July 15.

Morocco said on Wednesday it has broken up a "terrorist cell" linked to the Islamic State group that authorities believe was planning attacks in the north of the country.