![In the blast area, iron roofs were ripped off half-destroyed houses and lay twisted amid the rubble [Screengrab/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/BATA.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
![Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province is home to most of Saudi Aramco's oil production and export facilities [File: Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/saudioil.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
![Olivier Dassault has died in a helicopter crash near Deauville, a parliamentary source has said [File: Ludovic Marin/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/000_94H63V.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Saynab has been driving tricycles on the streets of Mogadishu for 11 months [Noor Mohamed/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/0K5A8399-1.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Rights groups have warned that the threat no longer makes any distinction between armed rebels and other rights defenders as well as critics of the Duterte administration [Eloisa Lopez/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2020-06-04T000000Z_1055589267_RC2D2H9D4HAY_RTRMADP_3_PHILIPPINES-RIGHTS-PROTESTS.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Practically no one in Switzerland wears a burqa and only about 30 women wear the niqab [File: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/000_19Q73U.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko clash with security forces in Dakar on Friday [Zohra Bensemra/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-05T190621Z_233600356_RC275M93A5JX_RTRMADP_3_SENEGAL-POLITICS-SONKO.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her daughter Gabriella pose for a photo in London, UK, on February 7, 2016 [File: Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-07T120723Z_705724681_RC2C6M9THI09_RTRMADP_3_IRAN-BRITAIN-ZAGHARI.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![A protester holds a sign outside the Florida home of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was recorded with his knee on George Floyd's neck before his death, in Orlando, Florida, on May 29, 2020 [File: Scott Audette/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-02-23T193323Z_569781704_RC2JYL9IZMQO_RTRMADP_3_GLOBAL-RACE-USA-FLOYD.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
!['I am concerned that the security situation will worsen and that the Taliban could make rapid territorial gains,' US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in the letter [Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-03T171641Z_468040957_RC2T3M9OY4WU_RTRMADP_3_USA-BIDEN-DIPLOMACY.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province is home to most of Saudi Aramco's oil production and export facilities [File: Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/saudioil.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
From: Inside Story
Will elections lead to stability in Ivory Coast?
Voters to choose new Parliament following a violent presidential election.
Bolivians vote in local, regional polls amid COVID-19 concerns
About 7.1 million people will head to polling stations across the country for the mandatory vote on Sunday.
![People wear face masks and face coverings while they work at a polling station during regional elections in La Paz, Bolivia, on March 7, 2021 [Manuel Claure/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-07T184802Z_462425361_RC2E6M9BFRTY_RTRMADP_3_BOLIVIA-ELECTION.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Opinion
Saudi-led coalition launches air raids on Yemen’s Sanaa
Coalition carries out air raids on ‘Houthi military targets’ after Houthis launched armed drones at Saudi Arabia.
![Smoke and dust rise after air strikes launched by the Saudi-led coalition on Sanaa [Khaled Abdullah/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-07T121910Z_319359968_RC2C6M9TMDCM_RTRMADP_3_YEMEN-SECURITY-SAUDI.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
![Pope Francis walks alongside Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhem upon his arrival in Baghdad. [Vincenzo Pinto/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/000_94C3UV.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Pope Francis walks alongside Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhem upon his arrival in Baghdad. [Vincenzo Pinto/AFP]
![The pope landed in war-battered Iraq on the first-ever papal visit, defying security fears and the pandemic to visit one of the world's oldest and most persecuted Christian communities. [Ayman Henna/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/000_94D67F.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
The pope landed in war-battered Iraq on the first-ever papal visit, defying security fears and the pandemic to visit one of the world's oldest and most persecuted Christian communities. [Ayman Henna/AFP]
![Pope Francis waves as he arrives to hold his first mass in Iraq, at Our Lady of Deliverance Church in Baghdad. [Murtaja Lateef/EPA]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/h_56741692.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Pope Francis waves as he arrives to hold his first mass in Iraq, at Our Lady of Deliverance Church in Baghdad. [Murtaja Lateef/EPA]
![The pope leaves Mar Youssef Church in Baghdad. [Khalid Mohammed/AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AP_21065664623923.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
The pope leaves Mar Youssef Church in Baghdad. [Khalid Mohammed/AP]
![Iraq's Shia Muslim leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, meets the pope in Najaf. [Handout/Vatican Media via AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AP_21065258719098-1.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Iraq's Shia Muslim leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, meets the pope in Najaf. [Handout/Vatican Media via AP]
![Pope Francis speaks to Iraqi religious figures during an interfaith service in the ancient city of Ur in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar province, Nasiriya. [Handout/Vatican Media via EPA]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/h_56743572.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Pope Francis speaks to Iraqi religious figures during an interfaith service in the ancient city of Ur in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar province, Nasiriya. [Handout/Vatican Media via EPA]
![Upon his arrival in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region, Pope Francis is flanked by regional President Nechirvan Barzani, right, and Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, left. [Handout/Vatican Media via AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/000_94G2U9.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Upon his arrival in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region, Pope Francis is flanked by regional President Nechirvan Barzani, right, and Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, left. [Handout/Vatican Media via AFP]
![The pope holds a minute of silence at the destroyed cathedral in Mosul's old city. [Yara Nardi/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-07T082519Z_1103196100_RC286M9HCZJE_RTRMADP_3_POPE-IRAQ-MOSUL.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
The pope holds a minute of silence at the destroyed cathedral in Mosul's old city. [Yara Nardi/Reuters]
![Accompanied by the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Najib Mikhael Moussa, left, Pope Francis looks over a square near the ruins of the Syriac Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception (al-Tahira-l-Kubra), in Mosul. [Vincenzo Pinto/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/000_94G39M-1.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Accompanied by the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Najib Mikhael Moussa, left, Pope Francis looks over a square near the ruins of the Syriac Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception (al-Tahira-l-Kubra), in Mosul. [Vincenzo Pinto/AFP]
![Pope Francis arrives to hold a mass at the Grand Immaculate Church in Qaraqosh, Iraq’s largest Christian city in the Nineveh Plains. [Handout/Vatican Media via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-07T103710Z_213802592_RC2A6M9CBJY0_RTRMADP_3_POPE-IRAQ-QARAQOSH.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Pope Francis arrives to hold a mass at the Grand Immaculate Church in Qaraqosh, Iraq’s largest Christian city in the Nineveh Plains. [Handout/Vatican Media via Reuters]
![Pope Francis performs mass at Qaraqosh's Grand Immaculate Church. [Handout/Vatican Media via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-07T103233Z_1254185483_RC2A6M9QEYH1_RTRMADP_3_POPE-IRAQ-QARAQOSH.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Pope Francis performs mass at Qaraqosh's Grand Immaculate Church. [Handout/Vatican Media via Reuters]
![People wait for the start of a mass led by Pope Francis at the Franso Hariri Stadium in Erbil. [Azad Lashkari/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-07T115856Z_953316392_RC2B6M92CVGA_RTRMADP_3_POPE-IRAQ.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
People wait for the start of a mass led by Pope Francis at the Franso Hariri Stadium in Erbil. [Azad Lashkari/Reuters]
![Nuns await the arrival of Pope Francis at the Franso Hariri Stadium in Erbil. The mass, held in Italian, comprises hymns held in Arabic and Syriac, the languages of the local Christian population, played by an orchestra of about 80 musicians. [Safin Hamed/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/000_94G6HB.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Nuns await the arrival of Pope Francis at the Franso Hariri Stadium in Erbil. The mass, held in Italian, comprises hymns held in Arabic and Syriac, the languages of the local Christian population, played by an orchestra of about 80 musicians. [Safin Hamed/AFP]
![Pope Francis blessing people as he arrives in the popemobile vehicle at the Franso Hariri Stadium [Azad Lashkari/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-07T143411Z_905300738_RC2E6M9PCBR3_RTRMADP_3_POPE-IRAQ-ERBIL-CROWDS.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Pope Francis blessing people as he arrives in the popemobile vehicle at the Franso Hariri Stadium [Azad Lashkari/Reuters]
![Pope Francis leads a mass at the Hariri Stadium in Erbil [Azad Lashkari/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-07T143923Z_830424546_RC2E6M9QR5OL_RTRMADP_3_POPE-IRAQ.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Pope Francis leads a mass at the Hariri Stadium in Erbil [Azad Lashkari/Reuters]
![Pope Francis meets Abdullah Kurdi, father of Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old boy whose dead body was found washed up on a Turkish beach in 2015, in Erbil [Vatican Media/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-07T171603Z_2132259203_RC2H6M9RBZS4_RTRMADP_3_POPE-IRAQ-KURDI-1.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Pope Francis meets Abdullah Kurdi, father of Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old boy whose dead body was found washed up on a Turkish beach in 2015, in Erbil [Vatican Media/Reuters]
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China urges US to reverse ‘dangerous practice’ on Taiwan
China’s top diplomat calls on Washington to work together with Beijing and remove ‘unreasonable’ curbs on cooperation.
![Wang gave no indication of how Beijing might react if Biden does not change course [Thomas Peter/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-07T073753Z_209088380_RC276M92LJRZ_RTRMADP_3_CHINA-PARLIAMENT-DIPLOMACY.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Biden signs order to promote US voting rights, access
Executive order comes as Republicans are pushing to tighten voting restrictions following 2020 presidential defeat.
![Demonstrators hold signs as they march for voting rights on Election Day in Graham, North Carolina, on November 3, 2020 [File: Jonathan Drake/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2020-11-04T024443Z_1634502458_RC22WJ93EY6W_RTRMADP_3_USA-ELECTION-NORTH-CAROLINA.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Jordan PM reshuffles cabinet months after government’s formation
Officials appointed include successors to interior and justice ministers after both quit last week after COVID breach.
![Jordan is witnessing a nearly two-month surge of infections of coronavirus amid rising discontent over worsening economic conditions [File: Khalil Mazraawi/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/000_8YN3W9.jpg?resize=570%2C380)