Chinese President Xi Jinping met Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince on Thursday on an Arab outreach visit that will yield billions of dollars in deals and has earned a rebuke from Washington. 

About $30 billion in agreements will be signed on Thursday, Saudi state media said, as China seeks to shore up its Covid-hit economy and as the Saudis, long-term U.S. allies, push to diversify their economic and political alliances. 

Israeli troops killed three Palestinians on Thursday in their latest deadly raid on the flashpoint city of Jenin, Palestinian health officials said, as violence surges in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces have made near-daily raids across the territory in recent months, many of them deadly, following a series of lethal attacks on Israelis.

Five years after it emerged from the Islamic State group's jihadist rule, Iraq's once thriving cultural center of Mosul has regained a semblance of normalcy despite sluggish reconstruction efforts.

The White House on Wednesday responded to the visit of President Xi Jinping to Saudi Arabia by warning that China's attempt to spread influence worldwide is "not conducive" to international order.

An Iraqi activist was sentenced to three years in prison over alleged criticism of state-sanctioned militias, spurring criticism from human right monitors and local activists.

Hayder al-Zaidi, 20, who was active in popular anti-government protests that began in October 2019, was sentenced in a criminal court in Baghdad over comments on Twitter that he maintains he did not write. He had been charged under a penal code section that outlaws publicly insulting any government institution or official.

Israel's ties to the Jewish American community, one of its closest and most important allies, are about to be put to the test, with Israel's emerging far-right government on a collision course with Jews in the United States.

Major Jewish American organizations, traditionally a bedrock of support for Israel, have expressed alarm over the far-right character of the presumptive government led by conservative Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Given American Jews' predominantly liberal political views and affinity for the Democratic Party, these misgivings could have a ripple effect in Washington and further widen what has become a partisan divide over support for Israel.

Chinese President Xi Jinping touched down in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for a visit that is likely to focus on energy ties but also follows months of tensions with the United States.

Xi, recently reanointed as leader of the world's second biggest economy, arrived in the capital Riyadh, Chinese state media said, for a three-day visit that will include talks with the Saudi rulers and other Arab leaders.

Libya's state energy firm urged its foreign oil and gas partners to resume exploration and production Tuesday assuring them security had begun to improve dramatically after clashes earlier this year.

The World Cup stadium was designed to leave a minimal footprint in the Qatari sand. It's now due to be dismantled.

Stadium 974 played host to seven matches, the last of which was Brazil's 4-1 win over South Korea in the round of 16 on Monday.

Throughout the Muslim and Arab worlds, either government neglect or outright hostility toward LGBTQ people, said Rasha Younes, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch who investigates anti-LGBTQ abuses in the Middle East and North Africa.

In some countries, apparent advances for LGBTQ people have been followed by pushbacks. Lebanon is an example. Over recent years, its LGBTQ community was widely seen as the most vibrant and visible in the Arab world, with advocacy for greater rights by some groups, and gay bars hosting events such as drag shows.