Middle East

Israel's prime minister paused his plan to overhaul Israel's judiciary after the country's top union called a strike that shuttered Israeli embassies, hospitals and government services.
The workers threatened to paralyze the economy while protesting against the prime minister's plan to overhaul the judiciary.
Yoav Gallant called for a halt to the Israeli prime minister's planned overhaul of the judiciary that has fiercely divided the country.
The request intensifies a brewing showdown between the prime minister's government and the judiciary it's trying to overhaul in a widely-opposed plan.
The Pentagon says a U.S. contractor was killed when a suspected Iranian drone struck a facility on a coalition base in northeast Syria on Thursday.
The Palestinian prime minister said Bezalel Smotrich's remarks were “conclusive evidence of the extremist, racist Zionist ideology that governs" Israel.
The country faces a health care crisis where women and their babies are at risk of serious issues.
Russia-backed actors were specially trained to cause mass unrest during a protest in the capital against the country’s new pro-Western government.
“I remain deeply worried that the White House just doesn’t appreciate how dire our situation has become,” said Siamak Nazari, Iran's longest-held U.S. prisoner.
Authorities have acknowledged suspected attacks at more than 50 schools across 21 of Iran’s 30 provinces since November.