Israel's parliament voted Thursday in favor of the normalization of ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain after a marathon debate with over 100 speeches lasting more than eight hours.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday encouraged Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel, in what would be a massive boost for the Jewish state amid normalization by two other Gulf Arab kingdoms.

Israel has approved over 12,000 West Bank homes in 2020, a record high for Jewish building in occupied Palestinian territory, settlement watchdog Peace Now said Thursday.

Italy's foreign minister pledged Thursday to bring home 18 fishermen detained in Libya since the start of September, in an escalation of the so-called Mediterranean "prawn war".

A landmark prisoner exchange between war-torn Yemen's government and Huthi rebels began Thursday, with hundreds of combatants heading home on flights criss-crossing the country and Saudi Arabia.

Attacks on civilian targets during a Syrian-Russian campaign in northeast Syria's rebel-held Idlib may amount to crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said Thursday, calling for sanctions against top commanders.

Saudi Arabia has failed in its bid to become a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council as China and Russia were elected to three-year terms.

Angry residents took to the streets of an impoverished Tunisian town on Tuesday after a man died when authorities demolished an illegal kiosk where he was sleeping.

The U.N.'s Libya envoy has urged rival parties to place the national interest before political ambitions when they meet for talks next month aimed at ending a decade of bloodshed.

Turkey on Tuesday slammed what it called "arrogant" EU calls for Ankara to withdraw from Syria, accusing the bloc of "double standards."