Libya's National Oil Company has warned that any bid to tamper with the sector could escalate unrest in the conflict-hit country, after the parliamentary speaker called for a halt to production.

The United Arab Emirates on Sunday called for negotiations to defuse tensions between the United States and Iran after Tehran shot down a U.S. drone.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has reiterated his staunch rejection of a U.S. economic peace plan as Washington unveiled details of its long-awaited initiative, saying a political solution must come first.

Syrian government air strikes on the rebel-held northwest killed four civilians, two of them children, on Saturday, a war monitor said, as a two-month flare-up showed no let-up.

The Idlib region of some three million people is supposed to be protected by a September buffer zone deal, but the jihadist-run enclave has come under mounting bombardment by the government and its ally Russia since late April.

The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Friday he hopes donors will be as generous this year as they were last year after the United States cut all funding for the $1.2 billion program to help some 5 million Palestinians.

Pierre Krahenbuhl said at a news conference that 42 countries and institutions increased their funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency last year. He called that "unprecedented," adding that it was also "very remarkable" that every single pledge in 2018 was honored.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman on Friday discussed the "threat" posed by Iran, the White House said, after Washington pulled back from launching strikes against Tehran.

Dubai-based airline Emirates Airline said Friday it rerouted flights to avoid "areas of possible conflict", a day after Iran shot down a U.S. reconnaissance drone over the Strait of Hormuz. 

Hundreds of Algerian protesters gathered Friday in the capital despite a spate of arrests ahead of the latest weekly rally since the April 2 resignation of longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, AFP correspondents said.

A suicide explosion at a Shiite mosque in eastern Baghdad killed two civilians and wounded nine people on Friday, two Iraqi police officers told AFP.

The U.N. food agency has begun a partial suspension of food aid to areas of Yemen controlled by the rebels amid accusations they were diverting aid from the war-torn country's hungriest people, the group said Thursday.

The World Food Program said it suspended its operations in the capital, Sanaa, which has been under Houthi control since 2014. The suspension would affect 850,000 people, it said in a statement.