The UN cultural agency yesterday adopted an Arab-sponsored resolution condemning Israel’s actions at a flashpoint holy site in East Jerusalem, deepening anger in the Jewish state.

The Syrian army accused the US-led coalition of planning to allow safe passage into Syria for Islamic State militants fleeing the Iraqi city of Mosul, saying it would combat this with all forces at its disposal.

The wife of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview her husband's foes had offered her the chance to flee Syria in order to try to shake confidence in him, but that she had not left the country since the war erupted.

An Iranian court has sentenced an Iranian-American businessman and his elderly father to 10 years in prison on charges of cooperating with the United States, the Iranian judiciary's official news website reported on Tuesday.

The United Nations has announced a new ceasefire in war-ravaged Yemen from early Thursday, after a week of escalated fighting sparked new international calls to end the conflict.

Saudi police have arrested a man on public order charges after he was accused of cross-dressing online, a report in the conservative kingdom said late on Monday.

Iraqi forces advanced yesterday in an offensive aimed at retaking Mosul and dealing a death blow to the Islamic State group’s “caliphate” in the city where it was declared two years ago.

Russia yesterday announced an eight-hour “humanitarian” ceasefire in Aleppo later this week, as the EU warned that the Syrian regime’s Moscow-backed assault on the city could amount to war crimes.

Egypt passed legislation yesterday to crack down on people traffickers linked to a major surge in the numbers of migrants departing from the country’s Mediterranean coast on often disastrous sea journeys to Europe.

Sudanese port workers unload US aid from the World Food Programme from the US-flagged bulk carrier, Liberty Glory, docked in Port Sudan yesterday.

Kuwait will hold snap elections on November 26, the government said yesterday a day after the Gulf state ruler dissolved parliament following a dispute over hiking petrol prices.

Russian and Syrian armed forces will pause attacks on the Syrian city of Aleppo for eight hours on Thursday to allow civilians and rebels to leave the city, the Russian defence ministry said on Monday.