Protesters angry with Lebanon's ruling class blocked major roads leading to the capital Monday, causing traffic jams and prompting the head of the country's hospital union to warn they were preventing oxygen supplies from reaching medical centers treating coronavirus patients.

The country is in the grips of its worst economic crisis in decades, compounded by the coronavirus pandemic.

Protesters early on Monday blocked roads again across Lebanon protesting the dire living conditions and the country's political paralysis after the Lebanese pound hit record lows on the black market.

In Beirut, protesters blocked the main Corniche al-Mazraa road, Cola roundabout, Downtown Beirut.

Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab warned Saturday that the country was quickly headed toward chaos and appealed to politicians to put aside differences in order form a new government that can attract desperately needed foreign assistance.

Pope Francis and Iraq's top Shiite cleric delivered a powerful message of peaceful coexistence Saturday, urging Muslims in the war-weary Arab nation to embrace Iraq's long-beleaguered Christian minority during an historic meeting in the holy city of Najaf.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said religious authorities have a role in protecting Iraq's Christians, and that they should live in peace and enjoy the same rights as other Iraqis. The Vatican said Francis thanked al-Sistani for having "raised his voice in defense of the weakest and most persecuted" during some of the most violent times in Iraq's recent history.

Israel's defense minister has said Israel is upgrading contingency plans to strike Iranian targets if Tehran shows signs of nuclear escalation, the latest sign of rising tensions between the two archenemies.

Benny Gantz told the American cable network Fox News that Israel is still working on its plans, but that "we have them in our hands of course."

The chief lawyer for Greg Kelly, an American on trial in Japan on charges of under-reporting Nissan former Chairman Carlos Ghosn's compensation, says his client was merely trying to prevent Ghosn from going to a rival automaker.

"Greg has no motive at all to commit such a crime," Yoichi Kitamura said Friday at his Tokyo office.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz revealed on Friday a target map of "Hizbullah" missiles amid civilian infrastructure in Lebanon.

Pope Francis arrived in Iraq on Friday to urge the country's dwindling number of Christians to stay put and help rebuild the country after years of war and persecution, brushing aside the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns to make his first-ever papal visit.

The pope, who wore a facemask during the flight, kept it on as he descended the stairs to the tarmac and was greeted by two masked children in traditional dress. But health measures appeared lax inside the airport despite the country's worsening coronavirus outbreak.

Iran has agreed to sit down with international technical experts investigating the discovery of uranium particles at three former undeclared sites in the country, the head of the U.N. atomic watchdog said Thursday, after months of frustration at Tehran's lack of a credible explanation.

The agreement came as three of the remaining signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran — France, Germany and Britain — backed off the idea of a resolution criticizing Iran for its decision to start limiting access by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to current facilities.

Israel has yet to decide whether it will cooperate with the International Criminal Court's investigation into alleged crimes in the Palestinian territories, a senior Justice Ministry official said Thursday.

The decision by the court's outgoing prosecutor to probe Israeli military actions and settlement construction on lands captured in the 1967 Mideast war was announced Wednesday and condemned by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as "the essence of anti-Semitism and hypocrisy."