The Palestinian president welcomed Thursday a United Nations General Assembly resolution criticizing the U.S. government's controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Israel's envoy to the United Nations vowed Thursday that his country would never be "driven" from Jerusalem as U.N. member states prepared to vote on rejecting Washington's recognition of the Holy City as its capital.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley warned Thursday of reprisals ahead of a U.N. vote expected to reject the U.S. decision on Jerusalem, warning "the United States will remember this day."

"This vote will make a difference on how Americans look at the U.N. and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the U.N.," Haley told the U.N. General Assembly.

Hundreds of protesters faced off with security forces in Iraqi Kurdistan for a fourth day Thursday, demanding the resignation of politicians accused of graft.

France's foreign minister on Thursday urged Libya's unity government to act on a United Nations plan for 2018 elections and a national dialogue to stabilize the war-torn country.

Two more Palestinian women appeared in an Israeli military court Thursday after a viral video of an alleged assault on Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, an AFP journalist said.

Nariman Tamimi, 43, and Nour Naji Tamimi, 21, were detained in a case that has set Israeli and Palestinian social media alight.

Defying President Donald Trump's threat to cut off funding, the United Nations overwhelmingly approved on Thursday a motion rejecting the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The 193-member General Assembly adopted the motion by 128 to nine with 35 abstentions, in what Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour called a "massive setback" for the United States.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday called on UN member states not to be swayed by US leader Donald Trump's threat to cut funding, during a key vote on a motion rejecting US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Hundreds of detainees in Iraq are feared to have been "forcibly disappeared" by Kurdish authorities after they were arrested for suspected ties to the Islamic State group, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.  

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dubbed the United Nations a "house of lies" on Thursday, ahead of a General Assembly vote on a resolution rejecting US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.