Tunisian President Kaïs Saied issued presidential decrees bolstering the already near-total power he granted himself two months ago.

Wednesday's decrees include the continuing suspension of the Parliament's powers and the suspension of all lawmakers' immunity from prosecution. But the text published in the official gazette went even further — now freezing lawmakers' salaries.

A 3,500-year-old clay tablet discovered in the ruins of the library of an ancient Middle Eastern king, then looted from an Iraqi museum 30 years ago, is finally headed back to Iraq.

The $1.7 million cuneiform clay tablet was found in 1853 as part of a 12-tablet collection in the rubble of the library of Assyrian King Assur Banipal. Officials believe it was illegally imported into the United States in 2003, then sold to Hobby Lobby and eventually put on display in its Museum of the Bible in the nation's capital.

China's central bank will soon have access to private credit information of hundreds of millions of users of Ant Group's online credit service, in a move signaling more regulatory oversight of the financial technology sector.

Huabei, Ant Group's credit service, said in a statement that consumer credit data it has collected will be included in the People's Bank of China's financial credit information database.

The new rulers of Afghanistan have an uphill battle in their efforts to be recognized in time to address other world leaders at the United Nations this year.

The Taliban are challenging the credentials of the ambassador from Afghanistan's former government and asking to speak at the General Assembly's high-level meeting of world leaders this week, according to a letter sent to the United Nations.

The head of the U.N. food agency is warning that 16 million people in Yemen "are marching towards starvation" and says food rations for millions in the war-torn nation will be cut in October unless new funding arrives.

David Beasley said Wednesday at a high-level meeting on Yemen's humanitarian crisis that the United States, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other donors stepped up when the World Food Program was running out of money earlier this year and "because of that we averted famine and catastrophe."

The inequity of COVID-19 vaccine distribution will come into sharper focus Thursday as many of the African countries whose populations have little to no access to the life-saving shots step to the podium to speak at the U.N.'s annual meeting of world leaders.

Already, the struggle to contain the coronavirus pandemic has featured prominently in leaders' speeches — many of them delivered remotely exactly because of the virus. Country after country acknowledged the wide disparity in accessing the vaccine, painting a picture so bleak that a solution has at times seemed impossibly out of reach.

Libya's powerful, east-based commander has announced he was suspending his role as leader of a self-styled Libyan army for the next three months — the clearest indication yet that he may be contemplating a run for president in December elections.

If he runs, commander Khalifa Hifter would be one of the frontrunners in the Dec. 24 vote but his candidacy is likely to stir controversy in western Libya and the capital of Tripoli, the stronghold of his opponents, mostly Islamists.

Saudi Arabia's monarch expressed hope Wednesday that the kingdom's direct talks with Iran will lead to confidence building as the two bitter regional rivals take small steps toward dialogue following several years of heightened tensions.

King Salman made the remarks in a pre-recorded speech delivered to leaders gathered for the U.N. General Assembly. He said Iran is a neighbor of Saudi Arabia, and that the kingdom hopes talks between the two nations can lead to tangible results that pave the way to achieving the aspirations of the region's people.

With increasingly strong talk in support of Taiwan, a new deal to supply Australia with nuclear submarines, and the launch of a European strategy for greater engagement in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. and its allies are becoming growingly assertive in their approach toward a rising China.

China has bristled at the moves, and the growing tensions between Beijing and Washington prompted U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the weekend to implore President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to repair their "completely dysfunctional" relationship, warning they risk dividing the world.

There was a time not long ago when uprisings and wars in the Arab world topped the agenda at the U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York.

With most of those conflicts in a stalemate, the world's focus has shifted to more daunting global challenges such as the still raging coronavirus pandemic and climate change, as well as new crises in Ethiopia's embattled Tigray region and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.