The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor on Wednesday launched an investigation into alleged crimes in the Palestinian territories, turning the tribunal's focus toward Israeli military actions and settlement construction on lands captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

The decision dealt an embarrassing blow to the Israeli government, which had conducted an aggressive public relations and behind-the-scenes diplomatic campaign to block the investigation. It also raised the possibility of arrest warrants being issued against Israeli officials suspected of war crimes, making it potentially risky to travel abroad.

Pope Francis said Wednesday he still expected to make his historic visit to Iraq in two days time, after a rocket attack on a military base hosting U.S.-led coalition troops.

Israel on Wednesday accused Iran of "environmental terrorism" after a devastating oil spill off its Mediterranean coast it said was perpetrated by a Libyan-flagged ship that set sail from Iran.

Storms last month washed tons of sticky tar ashore along Israel's entire Mediterranean coastline, staining 160 kilometers of beach from its borders with the Gaza Strip to Lebanon.

The advance team of a UN observer mission has arrived in Libya, which after a decade of conflict and chaos plans to hold elections in December, informed sources said Wednesday.

At least 31 killings have rocked a camp holding Islamic State group relatives in Syria since early January, a Kurdish official said Wednesday, with aid groups warning of a "nightmare". 

A U.S. contractor died of cardiac failure after rocket fire hit an Iraqi base hosting coalition troops Wednesday, the Pentagon said, just two days ahead of Pope Francis' visit to the country.

Around 10 rockets slammed into the sprawling Ain al-Assad military base in Iraq's western desert after several weeks of escalating U.S.-Iran tensions on Iraqi soil.

Jordan warned Israel on Tuesday that recent normalization deals between the Jewish state and Arab countries could not replace a two-state solution to the Palestinian issue.

Syria's pound hit a new low against the dollar on the black market Tuesday, a foreign exchange website and currency traders said, in the latest blow to the war-battered economy.

A munition fired by Yemen's Huthi rebels wounded five civilians in a border village in southern Saudi Arabia, state media reported Tuesday, the kingdom's latest casualties from cross-border fire.

Egyptian authorities on Tuesday executed 11 people convicted of murder, a security source said, in the latest cases of what rights campaigners have labelled "a horrifying execution spree".