Iraq will head to the polls on Sunday for early legislative elections, the fifth in the past 20 years. The poll comes two years after mass protests brought down the government of Adel Abdul Mahdi, but not before security forces and paramilitary groups killed more than 600 protesters.

Every year, and for many decades, at the UN General Assembly’s September meetings, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian question are tackled in speeches by concerned world leaders.

In a rare diplomatic breakthrough for Damascus, a senior Syrian official will visit Amman on Wednesday to take part in a four-way meeting for energy ministers that will also include the host, Jordan, in addition to Lebanon and Egypt.

The dramatic fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban will go down in history as the most spectacular military and political debacle for the US in decades.