Canada on Tuesday announced a ban on the import of goods suspected of being made using forced labor in China's restive Xinjiang region, following a similar move by Britain.

In the wake of a massive explosion that devastated large parts of Beirut, 93-year-old Yolande Labaki sought a way to help bring healing to the Lebanese capital.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Tuesday posted a poem containing verses about “lies” and “blame,” a day after he tweeted a bible verse on “cheating” amid a row with President Michel Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement.

Hariri’s tweet on Monday came after Aoun was caught on camera saying the PM-designate had “lied” about being given a cabinet line-up “paper” by the president.

Pope Francis on Sunday called on Americans to show their "sense of responsibility" and support for democratic values as he lamented the midweek storming of the Capitol in Washington.

Christians flocked to churches in Greece to celebrate the Epiphany on Wednesday, after the Orthodox Church rejected government coronavirus restrictions.

The unveiling of a large statue in a Beirut suburb of an Iranian commander killed by the U.S. last year has sparked indignation among many in Lebanon -- the latest manifestation of a growing schism between supporters and opponents of Iran-backed Hizbullah.

The bronze bust of Gen. Qassem Soleimani was erected Tuesday by the Ghobeiry municipality in a Hizbullah stronghold near Beirut's airport to commemorate the slain general's supportive role in Lebanon's wars with Israel. Soleimani, the architect of Iran's proxy militias in the Middle East, was killed in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad airport a year ago.

An Algerian supporter of the Hirak protest movement was sentenced to three years in jail Monday for satirical social media posts mocking the government and religion, a campaign group said.

A prominent Palestinian disc jockey arrested after a dance event at a Muslim religious and cultural site last week has been freed on bail, her father said Monday. 

Renowned Lebanese lyrical author, composer, orchestra arranger and conductor Elias Rahbani passed away on Monday at the age of 82, his family said.

Rahbani was hospitalized last week suffering low oxygen after he contracted the coronavirus and succumbed to COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, on Monday.

Thousands of minority-owned small businesses were at the end of the line in the U.S. government's coronavirus relief program as many struggled to find banks that would accept their applications or were disadvantaged by the terms of the program.

Data from the Paycheck Protection Program released Dec. 1 and analyzed by The Associated Press show that many minority owners desperate for a relief loan didn't receive one until the PPP's last few weeks while many more white business owners were able to get loans earlier in the program