It's been a race like no other: held amid the coronavirus pandemic, economic turmoil, and a national reckoning on race -- and after four turbulent years with Donald Trump as president.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may present himself as the advocate of Muslims but his jibes at French leader Emmanuel Macron on Islam also aim to score points at the expense of Middle Eastern rivals, analysts say.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region of Azerbaijan mainly inhabited by ethnic Armenians and backed by Yerevan, has been the scene of deadly clashes for the past month.

Despite failing to realise the Kremlin's hopes of spearheading a new era in US-Russia ties, President Donald Trump is still Moscow's preferred candidate in the US election over his rival Joe Biden, analysts say.

The discovery in recent years of huge natural gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean has whetted the appetite of nearby countries but exacerbated geopolitical tensions between Turkey and its neighbours. 

Relations have been strained in recent months following Turkish exploration and drilling operations in waters claimed by both Cyprus and Greece. 

One year after mass protests pushed him to resign, Saad Hariri is back as Lebanon's prime minister designate to draw together a pro-reform cabinet that can save the crisis-hit country.

What circumstances brought him back? What do the international community and key players inside Lebanon think? And will the consensus on him being named make his tricky task any easier?

Chile's tumultuous protests about social inequality, which started a year ago, have left around 30 dead and led to a referendum set for October 25 to change the dictatorship-era constitution.

Saad Hariri was tasked with forming a new government Thursday, a year after he was toppled amid nationwide protests against widespread corruption and a flunking economy.

President Michel Aoun designated Hariri to form the next government after a slight majority of votes from lawmakers, securing the return of an old name to lead the country desperate for change.

Saad Hariri, who was renamed Lebanon's premier Thursday, is a businessman who was propelled into politics by his billionaire father's assassination.

Egypt, which holds first round legislative elections at the weekend, has been ruled with an iron fist by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi since 2014.