The two millionth person has been born in Gaza, with the birth of a baby boy named Waleed officially recognised as reaching the milestone in the densely populated Palestinian territory.

A US Navy destroyer was targeted yesterday in a failed missile attack from territory in Yemen controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the second such incident in the past four days, US officials said.

Fighters from Libyan forces allied with the UN-backed government walk through a ruined building as forces advance into the last area controlled by Islamic State in Sirte, Libya, yesterday.

Forces loyal to Yemen’s exiled government clashed with Houthi fighters over a strategic town close to the border with Saudi Arabia yesterday in a sign a new front may be opening in the 19-month-old civil war.

Russia on Wednesday announced the first international talks on the Syria conflict since Washington pulled out of bilateral ceasefire negotiations in protest at Moscow's bombing of Aleppo.

Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, will be lit up in pink this week to raise awareness and funds to fight breast cancer, its developers said on Wednesday.

A booby-trapped drone launched by Islamic State militants killed two Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and wounded two French soldiers earlier this month north of the IS-controlled city of Mosul, Kurdish officials said on Wednesday.

Oman, seeking to bolster state finances as low oil prices slash its revenues, will raise electricity prices for large government, commercial and industrial users at the start of next year, an official said on Wednesday.

Saudi air defence forces shot down a ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Houthi militia toward Khamees Mushait city in the kingdom's southwest on Tuesday night, a Saudi-led coalition said in a statement carried by the state news agency SPA.

Regime ally Russia carried out its heaviest strikes in days on Syria’s Aleppo yesterday, as rebel fire killed at least five schoolchildren in the war-torn country’s south.

Israel boosted security and barred Palestinians from entering from the occupied West Bank or the Gaza Strip ahead of the solemn Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur that began yesterday evening.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday snubbed Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s criticism of the presence of Turkish troops in Iraq ahead of a planned operation to retake Mosul city, urging him to “know your place”.