Drenched in sweat, doctors check patients lying on stretchers in the reception area of Lebanon's largest public hospital. Air conditioners are turned off, except in operating rooms and storage units, to save on fuel.

Medics scramble to find alternatives to saline solutions after the hospital ran out. The shortages are overwhelming, the medical staff exhausted. And with a new surge in coronavirus cases, Lebanon's hospitals are at a breaking point.

Syria's air defense forces have shot down 22 missiles launched by Israeli warplanes during an airstrike against targets in Syria, the Russian military said.

Rear Adm. Vadim Kulit, head of the Russian military's Reconciliation Center in Syria, said six Israeli fighter jets targeted facilities in the provinces of Damascus and Homs from Lebanon's airspace late Thursday.

Hong Kong's granting of a quarantine exemption to Hollywood star Nicole Kidman is drawing criticism from lawmakers as the city tightens entry restrictions for international travelers to control the coronavirus.

Kidman, who reportedly flew to Hong Kong last week from coronavirus-hit Sydney, was exempted from a weeklong quarantine and was spotted in the city this week filming a new Amazon Prime Video series titled Expats, according to local media reports.

Afghanistan's president, driven out by the Taliban, is the latest leader on the run to turn up in the United Arab Emirates. Others who found refuge here include Spain's disgraced former king and two Thai prime ministers.

In nearby Qatar, meanwhile, the Taliban's political leaders have been given refuge for years.

The Vatican's newspaper is calling on the international community to welcome Afghan civilians fleeing the Taliban, expressing incredulousness "that before deciding to abandon the country no one thought through such a foreseeable scenario or did anything to avoid it."

In a front-page article in the Friday edition of L'Osservatore Romano, deputy editor Gaetano Vallini said the West was obliged to urgently remedy the situation with concrete action and welcome refugees to avoid a "catastrophic humanitarian emergency."

Taliban fighters tortured and killed members of an ethnic minority in Afghanistan after recently overrunning their village, Amnesty International said, fueling fears that they will again impose a brutal rule, even as they urged imams to push a message of unity at the first gathering for Friday prayers since the capital was seized.

Terrified that the new de facto rulers would commit such abuses, thousands have raced to Kabul's airport desperate to flee following the Taliban's stunning blitz through the country. Others have taken to the streets to protest the takeover — acts of defiance that Taliban fighters have violently suppressed.

Legal battles over masks in schools are being fought across the country, including in Arkansas, California, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Oklahoma, Nevada and Texas.

Rather than clarifying policy, these legal challenges have led to more confusion.

Arsenal completed the signing of midfielder Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid on Friday.

The 22-year-old Norway international was on loan in the second half of last season and returns on a long-term contract after Arsenal paid a fee reported to be 35 million euros ($41 million).

Israel has made third booster shots against COVID-19 available to people age 40 and older in an effort to fight a surge of the delta variant.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who is 49, got his jab on Friday. He pledged to share "all the data, all the information, all the insights" of the effort. Israel has been a leader in the fight against the deadly coronavirus and last month became the first country to offer booster shots. The U.S. has approved, but not yet made available, boosters for older Americans as well.

Asian stock markets fell Friday as worries surrounding the spread of the delta variant again took center stage.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1% to 27,013.25 and Seoul's Kospi fell 1.5% to 3,050.48. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 1.6% to 24,918.36 in afternoon trading.