Two Israeli men who lost close relatives in sectarian mob violence, one Jewish and one Arab, have bonded in grief -- but their contrasting pursuits of justice highlight a deep divide.

Both are mourning loved ones who were killed in the mixed city of Lod during the spasm of inter-communal unrest that tore through Israel during the latest Gaza war. 

Moroccans go to the polls Wednesday for parliamentary and local elections that will determine the fate of the Islamist party that has ruled since the Arab Spring uprisings.

First elected in 2011, the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) hopes to win a third term this year, having clung on to power at the head of coalitions for the whole intervening decade.

Iraq will allow only 40,000 foreigners, 30,000 from Iran, to attend the Arbaeen pilgrimage later this month in the Shiite shrine city of Karbala, authorities said Sunday, due to the pandemic.

Arbaeen marks the end of the 40-day mourning period for the killing of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, by the forces of the caliph Yazid in 680 AD.

A court in Egypt on Sunday sentenced eight foreigners and two Egyptians to death on charges of smuggling in over two tons of heroin by sea, a judicial source said.

Authorities seized the drugs brought in via the Red Sea, worth around 2.5 billion pounds ($159 million), in 2019. 

Lawyers of six Syrian refugees arrested in Lebanon said on Sunday that the country's security services have given them a 24-hour ultimatum — either leave Lebanon to a third country or be deported to Syria, the war-ravaged country they fled.

Lawyer Mohammed Sablouh said the move is highly unusual, is a violation of Lebanon's international obligations and laws, and seriously endangers the men's lives.

Libyan authorities on Sunday released one of Muammar Gadhafi's sons after more than seven years of detention in the capital of Tripoli following his extradition from neighboring Niger, the country's interim leader said.

Prime Minister-designate Abdul Hamid Dbeibah said in a tweet early Monday that al-Saadi Gadhafi had been released in compliance with a previous court order.

Israeli police on Monday said they were searching for six Palestinian prisoners who escaped overnight from a high-security facility in northern Israel in an extremely rare breakout.

Police said they have erected roadblocks and are conducting patrols in the area. The men were believed to have been headed for Jenin, where the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority wields little control and where militants in recent weeks have openly clashed with Israeli forces.

Twelve people were killed on an Egyptian highway early Sunday when their bus overturned on their return from the popular Red Sea resort Sharm El-Sheikh, medical and security sources said.

The runner-up in Tunisia's 2019 presidential election, Nabil Karoui, has been placed in pre-trial detention in neighboring Algeria, accused of "entering the country illegally", local media reported Sunday.

Israel's president met with the Jordanian king this past week, in a new sign of improved relations between the two countries, the president's office said.

At the king's invitation, new President Isaac Herzog met King Abdullah II at his palace in the Jordanian capital, Amman, Herzog's office said in a statement. The two discussed a series of political and economic issues including energy and sustainability.