Morocco's King Mohammed VI appointed a new government Thursday made up of a coalition of liberal and conservative parties and led by a billionaire businessman.

The cabinet of Prime Minister Aziz Akhanouch of the Rally of National Independents party is made up of 24 ministers, including seven women.

Iran's state TV reported Thursday that speedboats belonging to the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard have intercepted U.S. vessels in the Persian Gulf. A U.S. Navy spokesman said he was not aware of any such encounter at sea over the past days.

The region remains on edge over Iran's escalating nuclear program. Talks in Vienna to revive Tehran's now-tattered 2015 accord with world powers have stalled since June, with no date set for their resumption.

More than a year after his son was killed by Israeli forces under disputed circumstances in the occupied West Bank, Mustafa Erekat is still seeking his remains.

It is one of dozens of cases in which Israel is holding the remains of Palestinians killed in conflict, citing the need to deter attacks and potentially exchange them for the remains of two Israeli soldiers held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison welcomed France's decision to return its ambassador to Australia and said Thursday the bilateral relationship was bigger than the canceled submarine contract.

Morrison dismissed suggestions that Australia needed to rebuild its relationship with France after canceling a 90 billion Australian dollar ($66 billion) contract last month, an act French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described as a "stab in the back."

Flash flood warnings were in effect Thursday for a swath of the southeastern U.S. after a stalled weather front drenched Alabama, leaving high water that covered roads, swamped a Piggly Wiggly, unleashed sewage and forced water rescues. A child's death was blamed on the floods.

As much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain fell in about a day as the low-pressure system lingered over Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. The forecast called for particularly intense rain Thursday in parts of metro Birmingham, which were under a flash flood watch, but meteorologists predicted another wet day for most of the state and parts of Florida.

The death toll from Cyclone Shaheen that crashed through Oman rose Thursday to 14 after the sultanate found the body of someone missing since the storm.

Omani state television made the announcement, raising the total number of dead in the country to 12.

A court in Saudi Arabia upheld a 20-year prison term imposed on a Saudi aid worker who had criticized the government on Twitter, drawing a rare public rebuke from the U.S. in another sign of tension between the Biden administration and the kingdom.

The ruling, confirmed late Wednesday, also upheld a 20-year travel ban on Abdulrahman al-Sadhan after his release.

Greece's lawmakers are set to vote Thursday on a broad five-year defense pact signed last week with France which includes a clause of mutual assistance in case of attack by a third party.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis signed the deal with French President Emmanuel Macron during a Sept. 28 visit to Paris, during which Greece also announced it would be buying three French frigates for the Greek navy.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians lined up outside chambers of commerce across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, hoping to get permits to work inside Israel after rumors circulated that more would be issued to residents of the Hamas-ruled territory.

Gaza's more than 2 million Palestinian residents have lived under a crippling Israeli and Egyptian blockade since the Islamic militant Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007, and jobs are scarce. Israel says the closures are needed to contain the militant group, while critics view it as a form of collective punishment.

Qatar's foreign minister arrived in Abu Dhabi and met Wednesday with its crown prince, the clearest sign so far that relations between the two Gulf Arab states are easing following a lengthy embargo that strained ties and echoed across the region.

The United Arab Emirates' state-run WAM news agency reported that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan received Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at al-Bahr Palace in Abu Dhabi. The brief report said only that the two "discussed the strong ties between their countries and ways to enhance them to serve the interests of their nations."