Even after she was taken off an investigation into alleged financial crimes by a money transfer company, the defiant Lebanese prosecutor charged ahead. She showed up at the company's offices outside of Beirut with a group of supporters and a metal worker, who broke open the locked gate.

Ghada Aoun obtained data from Mecattaf Holding Company that she contends will reveal the identities of people who sneaked billions of dollars out of Lebanon amid the financial meltdown that has hit the country.

Syria's Supreme Constitutional Court has accepted three applications out of 51 for candidacy for this month's presidential elections in the war-torn country, state media reported Monday.

The largely symbolic election is certain to be won by President Bashar Assad, who was chosen along with two other men, Abdullah Salloum Abdullah and Mahmoud Ahmad Marie, to run. Some 51 candidates, including seven women, had applied to be candidates. The Parliament later referred the names to the constitutional court.

Lebanese authorities have arrested two brothers suspected of smuggling drugs in pomegranate shipments to Saudi Arabia, leading the kingdom to ban Lebanese fruits and vegetables, the outgoing interior minister said Sunday.

Mohamed Fahmi told local MTV television station during a tour to the Lebanon-Syria border that Interpol is also following a third suspect. He gave no further details, saying only that the case is still under investigation.

Iran will free prisoners with Western ties in Iran in exchange for billions of dollars from the United States and the United Kingdom, state television reported Sunday. The U.S. and the U.K. did not immediately acknowledge any swap.

The state TV report quoted an anonymous official just as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei began giving what authorities earlier described as an "important" speech. However, Khamenei did not immediately discuss any proposed swap amid negotiations in Vienna over Tehran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers.

Hundreds of Christian worshippers have made use of Israel's easing of coronavirus restrictions, packing a Jerusalem church revered as the site of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection for an ancient fire ceremony a day before Orthodox Easter.

The faithful gathered at The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, waiting for clergymen to emerge with the Holy Fire from the Edicule, a chamber built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was buried and rose from the dead after being crucified.

President Joe Biden declared that "America is rising anew" as he called for an expansion of federal programs to drive the economy past the pandemic and broadly extend the social safety net on a scale not seen in decades.

Biden's nationally televised address to Congress, his first, raised the stakes for his ability to sell his plans to voters of both parties, even if Republican lawmakers prove resistant. The president is following Wednesday night's speech by pushing his plans in person, beginning in Georgia on Thursday and then on to Pennsylvania and Virginia in the days ahead.

India crossed a grim milestone Wednesday of 200,000 people lost to the coronavirus as a devastating surge of new infections tears through dense cities and rural areas alike and overwhelms health care systems on the brink of collapse.

The health ministry reported a single-day record 3,293 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing India's total fatalities to 201,187, as the world's second most populous country endures its darkest chapter of the pandemic yet.

The trial of two Americans accused of helping former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn escape from Japan while out on bail will open on June 14, the Tokyo District Court said Wednesday.

Michael Taylor and his son Peter are accused of hiding Ghosn in a music box so he could flee to Lebanon in late 2019. The Taylors have been denied bail at the Tokyo Detention Center and not available for comment.

The Israeli army on Tuesday said it shot down a drone belonging to Hizbullah that entered Israeli airspace.

In a short statement, the military said it had monitored the aircraft throughout the incident after it "crossed from Lebanon into Israeli airspace in the eastern part of the Blue Line."

A U.K. maritime organization is reporting an "incident" off the Saudi port of Yanbu as a private security firm is warning of a possible attack on a ship.

Details were scarce Tuesday on the incident in the Red Sea.