Middle East & North Africa

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters blocked roads and burned tires across Lebanon for a second day on Friday, demanding the demise of a political elite they say looted the economy to the point of breakdown.

The nationwide protests, Lebanon’s biggest in years, brought ordinary people from all sects and walks of life to the streets. They carried banners and chanted slogans calling on the government to resign.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey will continue its offensive into northeast Syria more rapidly than before if an agreement with the United States to pause the operation and allow the withdrawal of Kurdish forces is not fully implemented, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

Erdogan also told journalists that it was not a problem for Turkey if Syrian government forces, backed by Russia, were to enter areas cleared of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, adding that Ankara had no intention to stay in areas under its control in northern Syria.

CEYLANPINAR, Turkey (Reuters) - Shelling could be heard at the Syrian-Turkish border on Friday morning despite a five-day ceasefire agreed between Turkey and the United States, and Washington said the deal covered only a small part of the territory Ankara aims to seize.

Reuters journalists at the border heard machine-gun fire and shelling and saw smoke rising from the Syrian border battlefield city of Ras al Ain early on Friday, although the sounds of fighting later subsided by mid-morning.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo underscored U.S.-Israeli efforts to counter Iran in talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, in an apparent attempt to ease concerns in Israel that Tehran could exploit a U.S. military pullback in Syria.

Pompeo and Netanyahu met in Jerusalem hours after Turkey agreed with the United States to pause its offensive on Kurdish forces in Syria.

DAMASCUS, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Bouthaina Shaaban, Syria's political and media advisor to the presidency, said on Thursday that the cease-fire reached between Turkey and the United States in northern Syria is "vague."

Her remarks came during a live interview with the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV aired in the evening, during which Shaaban said it is not yet clear about the prospects of the cease-fire agreement.

TEHRAN, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Iran will reduce more of its nuclear commitments if the remaining parties to the Iranian nuclear deal fail to help the country reap economic benefits of the accord.

Iranian President's Chief of Staff Mahmoud Vaezi made the remarks on Thursday, according to official IRNA news agency.

BEIRUT (AP) — The latest on Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria (all times local):

03:15 a.m.

Australia has ruled out retrieving dozens of Australian women and children from refugee camps during the cease-fire in Syria.

Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said Friday the situation remained too dangerous to send Australian troops or officials into the war-torn nation.

Dutton says he is hopeful the cease-fire will lead to lasting peace.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The U.S. and Turkey agreed Thursday to a cease-fire in the Turks’ deadly attacks on Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, requiring the Kurds to vacate the area in an arrangement that largely solidifies Turkey’s position and aims in the weeklong conflict. The deal includes a conditional halt to American economic sanctions.

17 October 2019; AFP: Thirty-five foreigners were killed and four others injured when a bus collided with another heavy vehicle near the Muslim holy city of Medina, Saudi state media said on Thursday.

The accident on Wednesday evening involved a collision between "a private chartered bus... with a heavy vehicle" near the western city, a spokesman for Medina police said, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Kurdish-led authority in northeast Syria called for a corridor “to evacuate dead and wounded civilians” from Ras al-Ain town which Turkish forces have pushed into.

It said in a statement that people were trapped in the Syrian border town, urging foreign powers including the U.S.-led coalition and Russia, to intervene to get them out.