Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (second left) and Chad’s President Idriss Deby (right) clap as Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir

Iraq’s Supreme Court yesterday ruled against a decision by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to scrap three vice-president positions, weakening his political standing by overruling one of his most important measures to streamline the government.

Mansour Faridfar did well on the black market until the law caught up and left him jobless, forcing him to join the thousands of “shakhsi” unofficial taxi drivers clogging Tehran’s streets.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s “failure of leadership” caused the deaths of over 300,000 people, according to an interview released yesterday.

France wants the bombardment of Syria’s city of Aleppo to be investigated by the International Criminal Court as a war crime, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said yesterday.

In a flowing scarlet dress, Rafeea al-Hajsi fulfilled a dream by becoming the first Emirati model to strut the Arab Fashion Week catwalk after years battling social constraints.

Two missiles fired from rebel-held territory in Yemen fell short of a US warship patrolling the Red Sea off the coast of the war-torn country, the US navy said yesterday.

Dubai began construction work on Monday on a tower that will stand higher than its Burj Khalifa, which is currently the world's tallest skyscraper.

Israeli authorities have arrested dozens of Palestinians after a deadly shooting rampage in Jerusalem raised fears of a surge in violence during this week's Yom Kippur holiday, police said Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Monday, pushing forward ambitious joint energy projects on his first visit to Turkey since a crisis in ties.

Iraq's supreme court on Monday ruled against a decision by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to scrap three vice-president positions.

Turkish police used tear gas and plastic bullets to prevent pro-Kurdish activists holding a protest to mark the one-year anniversary on Monday of the country's worst attack in its modern history in the capital Ankara, an AFP correspondent said.