IRAQ: Over the weekend, Iraq media reported that more than 100 ISIS vehicles were seen between Kirkuk and Mosul, just after the Pentagon warned on Friday that ISIS “is well-positioned to rebuild and work on enabling its physical caliphate to reemerge.”

At least 50 people died in an airstrike Thursday by the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition in the rebel-controlled region of Yemen, according to local media. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported that the strike hit a civilian bus in the northern Saada governorate and at least 29 children were among the dead. Approximately 77 people were injured, reported Yemen’s rebel Al Masirah television. Coalition spokesman Col.

EGYPT: Coptic Orthodox Bishop Epiphanius was found dead Sunday morning, lying in a pool of blood and apparently murdered in a corridor of the Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great in Wadi El Natrun, where he served as abbot.

Women in Saudi Arabia took the wheel Sunday as the Islamic kingdom ended the world’s last remaining ban on women driving. “I’m speechless. I’m so excited it’s actually happening,” said Hessah al-Ajaji, who drove her family’s Lexus in the capital city of Riyadh. As for male drivers on the road, “They were really supportive and cheering and smiling,” she said. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said he hoped the move would boost the country’s economy. Until last week, Saudi law required women to sit in the back seat of vehicles.

In his first overseas trip as secretary of state, Mike Pompeo said Monday in Jordan that the Trump administration considers solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a high priority. Pompeo visited Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Jordan but did not meet with Palestinian representatives, who have shut out U.S. diplomats since President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, where the U.S. Embassy is set to open May 14. “The parties will ultimately make the decision as to what the correct resolution is,” Pompeo told reporters at a joint news conference in Amman, Jordan.

Italian authorities seized the ship of humanitarian rescue group Proactiva Open Arms after a showdown at sea between the rescuers and the Libyan coast guard. Italy accused the group of enabling illegal migration after it picked up more than 200 migrants at sea on Thursday and refused to turn them over to Libyan authorities. The row is the latest between humanitarian rescue groups and Italian authorities, who accuse the rescuers of exacerbating the migrant crisis.

AUSTRIA: Austrian police on Wednesday raided an apartment building in Vienna, where some of a group of 100 mostly Christian Iranians have resided for more than a year, pending final approval for asylum in the United States. Police seized most documents and passports and are threatening the Iranians with deportation following a U.S. decision to deny asylum to some or all of the refugees, sources close to the cases told me.