Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said during his speech at the 29th Arab Summit held in Saudi Arabia that he hopes Arab countries would push for a political solution to the Syria crisis following the recent attacks on the country by the United States, France and Britain. Aboul-Gheit said that foreign interventions come at the expense of the Syrian people, who have paid dearly during the past seven years since the outbreak of the country s civil war in 2011.

French authorities say 63 people have been arrested and nine police officers injured as protests took place in two cities amid simmering anger at President Emmanuel Macron’s labor law changes. Interior Minister Gerard Collomb denounced the violence and damage to stores and public buildings at the edges of Saturday’s protests in Nantes in western France and Montpellier in the south.

"Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!" said Trump in his latest early morning tweet. That appeared a day after he tweeted that missiles "will be coming" after the April 7 chemical weapons attack alleged to have killed dozens of people, and lambasted Moscow for standing by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The ECJ has ruled that refugee minors have a right to family reunifications, even if they turn 18 during the application process. The case could have a major impact on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Thursday that unaccompanied refugee minors retain the right to family reunification even if they come of age during the asylum application process.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday it hoped all sides involved in Syria would avoid doing anything that could destabilise an already fragile situation in the Middle East and made clear it was strongly opposed to a possible US strike on its ally. The United States and its allies are considering whether to hit Syria over a suspected poison gas attack that medical relief organisations say killed dozens of people in the rebel-held town of Douma near Damascus on Saturday.

Azerbaijanis voted on Wednesday in a snap presidential election boycotted by the main opposition parties and set to extend the autocratic rule of President Ilham Aliyev. Polls opened at 0400 GMT in the energy-rich ex-Soviet Caspian state where the downtrodden opposition has been unable to mount a serious challenge to Aliyev.

International chemical weapons experts will go to the Syrian town of Douma to investigate an alleged poison gas attack, their organisation said on Tuesday, as the United States and other Western powers consider taking military action over the incident. U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday warned of a quick, forceful response once responsibility for the attack was established. The White House said Trump now will not travel on Friday to the Summit of the Americas in Peru so that he can focus on the crisis.

The United States on Tuesday welcomed a push by some EU states to impose new sanctions on Iran and warned firms considering doing business with the Islamic Republic that they could be funding militant groups and regional instability. U.S. President Donald Trump has set European allies a May 12 deadline to revamp an international deal agreed with Tehran in 2015 that lifted international sanctions against Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme.

North Korea s government has communicated with the United States to say that leader Kim Jong Un is ready to discuss his nuclear weapons program with President Donald Trump, officials said Sunday, increasing the likelihood that the unprecedented summit will actually occur. The confirmation from Pyongyang directly, rather than from third countries like South Korea, has created more confidence within Trump s administration about the wisdom of holding such a meeting, as US officials make secretive preparations. The Trump administration has long said that if the North Koreans weren t ready to discuss giving up their nuclear program, there was no reason for the two countries to hold negotiations.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday condemned an alleged chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town in Syria that killed dozens of people and said he would make a decision on a response, probably by the end of the day. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Trump said he was talking to military leaders and would decide who was responsible for the attack -- whether it was Russia, or Syrian President Bashar al-Assad s government, or Iran, or all of them together.

China warned on Friday it would fight back “at any cost” with fresh trade measures if the United States continues on its path of protectionism, hours after President Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese goods. Trump said the United States has already lost any trade war, as he defended his proposed tariffs, saying the move might cause “a little pain” but the United States will be better off in the long run.

Latin America’s largest nation prepared for what would have been unimaginable just a few years ago: the arrest of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a once wildly popular leader whose administrations were credited with bringing millions out of poverty in one of the world’s most unequal countries. Federal judge Sergio Moro, seen by many in Brazil as a crusader against graft, gave da Silva until 5 p.m. local time Friday to turn himself in and begin serving a sentence of 12 years and one month for a corruption conviction.

President Donald Trump agreed in a National Security Council meeting on Tuesday to keep U.S. troops in Syria a little longer but wants them out relatively soon, a senior administration official said on Wednesday. Trump did not approve a specific withdrawal timetable, the official said. He wants to ensure Islamic State militants are defeated but wants other countries in the region and the United Nations to step up and help provide stability in Syria, the official said.

Gunfire erupted at YouTube’s offices in California Tuesday, leaving three people wounded and sparking a panicked escape before the suspected shooter — a woman — apparently committed suicide. California news outlets late Tuesday said she appeared to be a vegan-themed content creator who has raged against YouTube on her personal website for what she saw as censorship of her videos.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a two-day visit to Turkey from Tuesday where he will meet his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the Kremlin said on Monday. Putin and Erdogan will also officially launch the first unit of Turkey s Akkuyu nuclear power station, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday told President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe that they should work towards a new chapter in ties, during the African leader s first state visit to China since he seized power last year. Mnangagwa, who was sworn in as president in November after a de facto military coup ended Robert Mugabe s 37-year rule, has vowed to rebuild his country s ravaged economy and re-engage with the international community.

A Palestinian succumbed to his wounds Monday three days after being shot by Israeli forces when a mass protest led to clashes, Gaza s health ministry said, raising the death toll to 17. Faris al-Raqib, 29, was shot in the stomach during Friday s clashes east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, the health ministry said, as tens of thousands of people took part in some of the largest protests in recent years.

An aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin says US President Donald Trump has invited the Russian leader to the White House, but the two countries haven’t started any preparations for such a visit. Trump and Putin had a telephone conversation on March 20 in which Trump congratulated Putin on winning the Russian presidential election two days earlier. The White House and the Kremlin said at the time the two presidents discussed meeting in person.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday over his sharp criticism of Israel after its soldiers killed 16 Palestinians when a major demonstration led to clashes. Erdogan has condemned Israel over its "inhumane attack" on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, prompting Netanyahu s response.

A fired ripped through a warehouse of the UN s World Food Programme on Saturday in Yemen s rebel-held Red Sea port of Hodeida, destroying humanitarian aid supplies, authorities said. Hodeida is Yemen s largest port and a lifeline for people in the war-battered country dependent on food imports and, according to the United Nations, on the verge of famine.

Massive anti-India protests erupted in several parts of the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir on Sunday amid fierce fighting between rebels and government forces that left at least 11 militants and three army soldiers dead, officials said. At least two civilians were killed and dozens injured in the latest round of anti-India protests, which broke out after Indian troops launched counterinsurgency operations targeting mainly the southern parts of disputed Kashmir, where new-age rebels have revived militancy and challenged New Delhi’s rule with guns and effective use of social media.