The Times and BBC News Online report that Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri will leave Saudi Arabia in the next few days for France, at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron.

BBC News Online and the Guardian report that an Egyptian singer, Sherine Abdel Wahab, is to face trial after she said that drinking Nile water could lead to illness. Wahab has been charged with “insulting the Egyptian state”.

The Guardian reports that a new study has found that populism and mass immigration pose major threats to global democracy and that the spread of democracy around the world has slowed over the past decade.

BBC News Online reports that the UK Foreign Office is considering extending diplomatic protection to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is currently detained in Iran on charges of attempting to overthrow the state.

Peter Westmacott, British Ambassador to the US from 2012 to 2016, has written in the Guardian that the Zaghari-Ratcliffe case is a humanitarian, not political issue, and that “Britain and Iran have more in common than many people realise, and share many values”.

George Monbiot writes in the Guardian that the West should draw lessons from the way that discredited stories spread after the chemical weapons attack in Syria and that it is crucial “not to fuel far-right conspiracy theories”.

The Telegraph reports that more than 50,000 children in Yemen will “die by the end of the year” as a result of disease and starvation caused by the conflict in the country.

The Telegraph reports that the son of British ISIS fighter Sally Jones did not die in the CIA airstrike that killed his mother. Joe “JoJo” Dixon, 12, was not with his mother, the “White Widow,” when a convoy she was travelling in was hit by a Reaper drone in June.

The FT reports that Saudi Aramco Chief Amin Nasser has praised the recent anti-corruption purge in Saudi Arabia and said that it should be viewed “very positively” by investors.

The Mail Online reports that the IDF yesterday demolished the home of a Palestinian who killed three Israelis at the entrance to a West Bank settlement.

All the Israeli media follow up the interview on Channel 2 News with former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who seems close to declaring he’s ready to return to politics.  In the interview he said: “I don’t need anyone’s approval. I’m sufficiently immodest to discern that objectively speaking — in terms of record, experience, international recognition, intimate familiarity with the problems of security, statesmanship and the economy — I am today better suited to lead the State of Israel than any of the candidates around.”

Yediot Ahronot declares on it’s the front page the “era of the female fighters,” as there has been a dramatic increase in female recruits into IDF combat units.  This year there are 2,700 new fighters, 15 per cent more than last year and a 500 per cent increase compared to five years ago.

Maariv prominently reports Defence Minister Lieberman’s comments that he will not allow Syria to become a forward operating base against Israel.  It also includes commentary from Yossi Melman stating: “Israel is more isolated than ever in all that pertains to the Middle East. Russia is not its ally, despite Netanyahu’s efforts to win over Russian President Vladimir Putin, to appease and please him. Israel cannot count on the United States either. Trump has persevered with the policies of his predecessor, Barack Obama, has recognised Syria as being under the Russian sphere of influence, and has abandoned the Middle East.  The sole consolation that Israel might find lies in its improving ties with Saudi Arabia.”

Israel Hayom and Haaretz report the opinion of the attorney general that a small part of private Palestinian land could be expropriated for an access road to the settlement of Horsha.

Haaretz report that former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri, currently in Saudi Arabia, will travel with his family to France in coming days, after receiving an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron. Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, referring to Saudi Arabia, has said that “it is very reprehensible and shameful for a Muslim country in the region to beg the Zionist regime to bomb the people of Lebanon… It is unprecedented in history for a Muslim country to take such measures, and this indicates the immaturity of the individuals, who have come to power in those countries.”

Kan Radio News carries an interview with Ilan Mengistu, the brother of Avera Mengistu, who is being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He said it is inconceivable that the UN has human rights committees and mechanisms have not addressed the issue of his brother. He is in the US and has met with representatives of human rights organisations and with senior administration officials, including White House Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt, who promised to help.