Israeli carrier Israir launched the first direct commercial flight between the Jewish state and Morocco on Sunday since the two states normalized diplomatic relations in a U.S.-brokered deal last year.

About 100 passengers were on the flight that departed from Tel Aviv to Marrakesh, Israir spokeswoman Tali Leibovitz told AFP, adding that two to three flights per week were planned on the route.

Iraq will provide Lebanon with one million tons of fuel oil for its power plants in exchange for medical services, under a deal signed on Saturday in Baghdad.

European stocks rose Friday at the end of a volatile week for markets, helped by the Eurozone's economic recovery and ECB assurances over its support package.

Asian equity markets closed out Friday with losses as the Delta variant continued to cast a shadow across trading floors.

As food systems around the world continue to recover from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.N. in Lebanon has hosted a virtual Food Systems Dialogue to inform the first-ever U.N. Food Systems Summit, which will take place in New York in September, about the future of food in Lebanon.

Families in Lebanon are now spending five times the minimum wage on food alone, a report found, as inflation caused by the country's worst-ever economic crisis continues to soar.

The small country is battling what the World Bank has described as one of the planet's worst financial crises since the 1850s, which has left more than half the population living below the poverty line.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet will huddle Wednesday to approve a massive relief package for rebuilding German regions destroyed in historic flooding and better protect them in future.

A Lebanon prosecutor has summoned Central Bank chief Riad Salameh for questioning next month over graft allegations, the latest of several cases brought against him, a judicial source told AFP.

Britain's highest court was this week set to consider who the UK government recognizes as president in economically-crippled Venezuela in a case that could determine the fate of gold worth $1.0 billion.

A UK legal battle lasting more than a year has ended up at the Supreme Court in London for four days of deliberations starting Monday.

From his shock detention to an audacious escape from Japan, the rollercoaster saga of former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn made headlines around the world.

An American father-son duo who helped former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn flee Japan were sentenced to jail by a Tokyo court on Monday, one for two years and the other 20 months.