Libyans at UN-led talks were to discuss the powers of a proposed transitional government Thursday, the UN said, as it steps up efforts to end years of conflict in the country.

Several shots were fired at the Saudi embassy in the Dutch city of The Hague but no one was hurt, police said on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman urged world powers Thursday to take a "firm stance" against its arch-rival Iran, as expectations mount that US President-elect Joe Biden will seek to revive a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

The United Nations' Libya mission has condemned the killing of a lawyer and women's rights activist who was shot in her car in the east of the country on Tuesday.

Palestinians on Wednesday buried their veteran negotiator Saeb Erekat, who died aged 65 of coronavirus complications, amid cautious hope the stalled peace process with Israel may be revived under Joe Biden's presidency.

German federal prosecutors on Wednesday said they had charged a German woman with crimes against humanity allegedly committed while she was living in Syria as a member of the Islamic State jihadist group.

A bomb blast struck a World War I commemoration attended by Western diplomats in the Saudi city of Jeddah Wednesday, leaving at least two people wounded in the second assault on diplomatic missions in recent weeks, officials said.

The Syrian government is working to secure the return of millions of refugees who fled war in their country, but Western sanctions are hindering the work of state institutions, complicating those plans, President Bashar Assad said Wednesday.

His comments came at the opening session of a controversial two-day international conference in Damascus on the return of refugees. The event, organized by Russia, is being boycotted by many Arab and Western countries and has been criticized by the U.N. and the U.S. Critics say the time is not ripe yet for the return of refugees, insisting the first priority should be to make it safe for people to go back to the war-torn country.

Bahrain's Prince Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, the world's longest-serving prime minister who had held the post since independence in 1971, died Wednesday at the age of 84, state media announced.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed Tuesday that the United States planned to sell top-of-the-line F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates as part of a $23.37 billion package.

The State Department sent a formal notice to Congress on the sale of the stealth precision planes, long sought by the Gulf Arab ally which won a green light after agreeing in September to recognize Israel.