The official account of a suicide is expected to be met with scepticism in a country where the government is frequently accused of targeting perceived critics.

The latest declaration by the US government has put a greater onus on other countries unite against Israeli occupation, writes Daoud Kuttab

Waiting for the Brexit finale has been a bit like sitting in a dentist’s surgery for three years — scared of the worst while hoping for the best, yet willing to accept a modicum of discomfort to get it all over with.

When Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud — MbS — assumed power in Saudia Arabia, he did so without the endorsement of an election. The idea is unknown in this family-run kingdom, where power is inherited and uncontestable.

"We will not send anyone to die," said immigration police chief Major General Surachate Hakparn

According to the Irish Embassy in Riyadh, “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a welcoming and hospitable country with many unique traditions.”

Your lunchtime news bulletin.

The Vatican has defended Pope Francis after human-rights groups expressed disappointment he did not publicly acknowledge the plight of Rohingya Muslims during a visit to Burma.

An Indonesian museum that encouraged visitors to take selfies with a waxwork of Adolf Hitler against a giant image of the Auschwitz extermination camp has removed the exhibit after protests.

After widespread shock and condemnation, the head of the World Health Organisation is "rethinking" his appointment of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe as a "goodwill ambassador."

Thousands of Catalans who want their region to remain in Spain marked the country's national day today, marching through Barcelona waving both Spanish and Catalan flags and shouting "I am Spanish".

The Qatari authorities are still not doing enough to protect migrant workers from the country's extreme heat and humidity, even those working on World Cup stadiums, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has said that ethnic cleansing is taking place in Burma against the Rohingya Muslim minority.

The Saudi-led coalition waging an air campaign against Houthi rebels in northern Yemen is killing children in what amounts to war crimes, according to an international rights group.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has given a "green light" to systematic torture inside detention facilities, allowing officers to act with "almost total impunity", an international rights group said.

Three boats carrying ethnic Rohingya fleeing violence in Burma have capsized in Bangladesh and 26 bodies of women and children have been recovered, officials said.

Lebanon's parliament has abolished a law which allowed rapists to avoid prison by marrying their victims.

The UN said it is using newly opened land routes to expand food deliveries to areas around the Syrian city of Raqqa, where US-backed forces are battling Islamic State militants in their self-declared capital.

Indonesia's president has signed a decree giving the government the power to ban radical organisations, in a move aimed at outlawing groups behind an apparent rise in the political clout of hardline Islam.

A Vietnamese blogger has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of distorting government policies.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has assured troops that he will protect them from any legal action if they accidentally kill civilians while battling militants who have besieged a southern city.

The court in conservative Aceh province said the men, aged 20 and 23, would each be subjected to 85 lashes for having sexual relations.

A human rights group has expressed concern over brutal attacks in India by self-appointed "cow protectors" against Muslims and lower castes over rumours that they sold, bought or killed cows for beef.

A blogger from Singapore who was jailed for online posts criticising his government has been granted asylum to remain in the United States, an immigration judge ruled.

China has strongly criticised what it called America's "terrible human rights problems" in its annual report on rights abuses in the United States, citing police brutality, high levels of incarceration, racial prejudice and money politics.

Hungary has begun building a second fence on its border with Serbia to stop refugees from freely entering the country.

Three men found guilty of a deadly bomb attack on police in Bahrain have been executed by firing squad.

A Singaporean teenager whose video posts and blogs mocking his government and its late founder landed him in jail twice has been detained in the US where he is seeking asylum.

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Some 21 of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamic extremists more than two years ago have been freed in negotiations, officials said.

Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has compared his bloody crime crackdown to Hitler and the Holocaust, saying he would be "happy to slaughter" three million drug addicts.

Human Rights Watch said a pattern of covering up police killings has thwarted efforts to curb violence in Rio de Janeiro’s slums ahead of the summer Olympic Games in Brazil.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

Guy Verhofstadt says the agreement between the European Union and Turkey to deal with the refugee crisis has reduced the flow of refugees, but at what price?