Finance ministers and central bank governors from G20 nations meet in the Saudi capital Saturday for a two-day gathering to discuss the global economy and the risks from the coronavirus epidemic.

Yemeni rebel missiles targeting cities in Saudi Arabia have been intercepted, the region's Riyadh-led military coalition said, in the latest cross-border attack by insurgents.

The missiles were fired by the Iran-aligned Huthi militant group, the coalition said in a statement released Thursday by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

Claims that Yemeni rebels shot down a Saudi warplane have spotlighted the increasingly potent Huthi arsenal -- cause for alarm in Riyadh as fighting escalates amid faltering efforts to end the five-year conflict.

Three leading international NGOs announced on Monday they are boycotting meetings that Saudi Arabia is holding with civil society groups ahead of hosting this year's Group of 20 summit, saying participating would lend legitimacy to a kingdom "trying to whitewash its dire human rights record."

As Saudi Arabia begins its first meetings this week to kick off the dedicated meetings for civil society within the G20 known as the Civil 20 or C20, Berlin-based Transparency International said it would decline its invitation to be part of the process.

Five people were sentenced to death Monday over Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder, but two top aides to the powerful crown prince were exonerated as authorities said the killing was not premeditated.

Supermodels and social media mavens, their makeup artists and hair stylists in tow, posed at a concert in leather pants, chunky sweaters and trendy black combat boots. What was unusual about these Instagram posts was that they were all deliberately tagged in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The bevy of Instagram stars, former Victoria's Secret models, including Alessandra Ambrosio, and Hollywood actors like Ryan Phillipe, Ed Westwick and Wilmer Valderrama were invited to Saudi Arabia over the weekend to promote the kingdom's most eye-popping effort yet at showcasing the dramatic changes taking hold in this country, where more than half of its 20 million citizens are under 25 years old.

The UN has been unable to confirm Iranian involvement in a dramatic attack on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia earlier this year, secretary-general Antonio Guterres said Tuesday.  

Drones and cruise missiles were used in the September bombardment, which knocked out half of the kingdom's crude production and fueled a record surge in prices.

Qatar's emir skipped a Gulf summit in Riyadh on Tuesday that had been pilled as a potential  "reconciliation conference" amid signs of a thaw between Doha and a Saudi-led bloc.

Two gay Saudi journalists who sought asylum in Australia after being threatened at home over their relationship have been held for weeks at an immigration detention centre, their lawyer said Wednesday.

A Yemeni man stabbed three actors at a performance in the Saudi capital, police said on Tuesday, in the first such attack since the ultra-conservative kingdom began easing decades-old restrictions on entertainment.