Fatma Tanis

Saudi Arabia is one of the world's top producers and exporters of dates, and dozens of varieties are sold every year at the Buraydah Date Festival.

The kingdom's sweeping redevelopment in the city of Jeddah is displacing hundreds of thousands of residents, many of them from working-class immigrant communities.

Most Gazans support resistance against Israel and Hamas and Islamic Jihad still do have a following, though some Gazans are frustrated with the groups. Analysts see a rift forming between them.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip take stock of militant groups there — Hamas and Islamic Jihad — after another round of conflict with Israel.

The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine has been through a lot in recent years. It's just reopened and Ambassador Bridget Brink is overseeing a massive U.S. assistance operation with a limited staff.

Ukraine says it urgently needs the heavy artillery to counter Russia on the battlefield. Also, President Zelenskyy is looking for additional support as the leaders of Germany, France and Italy visit.

Schools in Afghanistan are expected to open for the new semester Wednesday. But despite Taliban assurances that girls will be allowed back, students and teachers are unclear about what will happen.

Students and faculty with the Afghanistan National Institute of Music flew last week from Doha to Lisbon, where they will start their new lives and reconstitute their celebrated academy in exile.

The emergency gathering of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation was the largest international meeting on Afghanistan since the country fell to the Taliban in August.

"We want to prove to everyone forever that we respect humanity," Taliban spokesman Muhammad Naeem Wardak told NPR in Doha, Qatar. He also said women "must have the right to education and to work."