Lebanon President, Michel Aoun has described as 'act of aggression' the continued detention of former Lebanon Prime Minister, Saad Hariri in Saudi Arabia. Aoun in a statement issued on Wednesday said there was no justification for his detention and called on Saudi Arabia to immediately release him. He said the refusal to set Hariri free amounts to holding top Lebanese official hostage.

Iraqi forces have launched an offensive to recapture Rawa, the last town controlled by so-called Islamic State.

The town, and a few small parcels of land, are all that remains under the militants' control in Iraq, after the larger town of al-Qaim fell last week.

The United States and Russia are on a coalition course over the sudden resignation or Lebanon's Prime Minister, Saad Al-Hariri and his alleged detention in Saudi Arabia. While the United States has declined to comment on the status of the former Prime Minister after his resignation, Russia has threatened to drag the issue before the United Nations Security Council if the ambiguity continues.

More than 200 people were killed and hundreds more injured In following the devastating 7.3 magnitude earthquake that rocked Iranian and Iraqi border on Sunday night.

The quake triggered landslides that hindered rescue efforts, officials said Monday.

Hours after Saudi Arabia ordered its citizens not to travel to Lebanon and advised those in the country to leave, United Arab Emirate and Kuwait have also warned their citizens to leave the country with immediate effect. On Thursday, the Kingdom's official news aganecy, SPA quoted an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying;

China's home-grown large passenger plane C919 jet completed its first long-distance flight on Friday, in a milestone that its manufacturer said marks the plane's move into an airworthiness certification phase. The Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd (COMAC) said in a statement the C919 flew for 2 hours and 23 minutes from Shanghai to the central Chinese city of Xi'an, travelling more than 1,300 km (800 miles) and reaching an altitude of 7,800 meters (25,590 feet).