A humanitarian disaster is unfolding in Falluja following a civilian exodus from the Iraqi city, aid workers warn.

Israel's national water company has cut crucial water supplies to large areas of the occupied West Bank, leaving tens of thousands of Palestinians without access to safe drinking water during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

At least 224 people were killed in the first week of Ramadan in Syria, with the majority of the deaths resulting from bombings by Syrian and Russian warplanes, according to a monitor.

The bodies of at least 12 loyalists to the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have been found in the country's capital, Tripoli, just days after they were released from prison.

Crude barrel bombs have been dropped on a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus, which received its first food-aid delivery in four years, according to the Local Council of Daraya.

The reported violence on Friday came in the rebel-held area just hours after the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and the UN delivered food aid to its residents for the first time since it came under siege in 2012.

An EgyptAir plane that was forced to land in Uzbekistan due to a hoax bomb threat has been cleared to resume its journey from Cairo to Beijing.

At least 15 people are reported to have been killed and dozens wounded in a series of air strikes on rebel-held areas in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

UK police plan to train Saudis in hi-tech crime detection techniques despite fears they could be used to find people, who might then be tortured.

The BBC has seen papers that show England and Wales' College of Policing said there were human rights "risks" but argued this could be monitored.

The Iraqi government has been urged to investigate allegations that civilians detained during the battle for Falluja have been tortured by Shia militiamen.

The Islamic State (IS) group has staged a suicide attack on a gas factory near Baghdad in which 14 people were killed and 20 wounded, Iraqi officials say.

When the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major oil producers conclude their meeting on Sunday, analysts hope that an agreement to freeze output will reassure global energy markets that the recent recovery in prices is sustainable.

The armed group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in central Baghdad that police said killed seven people and wounded 27.

The blast occurred on Tuesday near a gathering of workers in Tayaran Square, about a kilometre from a sit-in held by supporters of influential Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to demand political reforms.

Pakistan rounded up more than 5,000 suspects, then released most of them, in the two days since a suicide bomber killed at least 72 people celebrating Easter, an official said on Tuesday.

Investigators kept 216 suspects in custody pending further investigation, said Rana Sanaullah, a state minister for Punjab province from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's ruling party.

Members of Parliament say no one was hurt, contradicting Taliban spokesman who claimed the raid caused heavy casualties.

Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air power, have recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) after days of intense fighting, state media and a monitoring group said.

Syrian state television quoted a military source as saying the army and allied militias had taken "complete control over the city of Palmyra".