The United Nations Security Council called on Shiite rebels Friday to leave the northern Yemeni city of Amran, which they seized in a major advance toward the capital.

In a unanimous declaration, the council's 15 members threatened targeted sanctions on those impeding the political transition process in Yemen and renewed their support of President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.

Russia signaled Friday that a deal could be clinched in Iran nuclear negotiations, as there is "political will" and a sense of urgency among participants for an accord before a July 20 deadline.

"One feels political will of the participants, and a certain fear that we may not be quick enough -- that is a good sign in this situation. There is not much time left. But there are chances," Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told Kommersant newspaper.

The U.N. Security Council urged Libyans to ensure that their national elections  are held peacefully on Wednesday, warning that they are important to Tripoli's transition to stable democratic rule.

The number of Syrians in urgent need of humanitarian aid has jumped to 10.8 million -- nearly half of Syria's population of 22 million -- United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said Friday.

In his monthly report to the U.N. Security Council, Ban said that a total of 4.7 million Syrians are now in areas that are "difficult or impossible" for humanitarian workers to reach, including 241,000 in besieged areas.

The suspected ringleader of the deadly 2012 assault on an American compound in Benghazi was planning new attacks on Americans, the United States says, defending the raid that captured the Libyan militant.

U.S. commandos seized Ahmed Abu Khatallah near the Libyan city of Benghazi on Sunday, drawing condemnation from Tripoli, which considers the stealth raid an infringement of its sovereignty.

A summit of G77 leaders plus China kicked off deliberations on a new world order Sunday with a call by Bolivia's President Evo Morales to eliminate the U.N. Security Council.

Developing countries, including some 30 heads of government and representatives of more than 100 nations -- about two-thirds of the world's countries -- gathered to demand a more fair new world order.

Former U.N. and Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said Sunday the unrest sweeping Iraq stemmed from the international community's negligence of the conflict in neighboring Syria.

Jihadist-led militants launched a lightning offensive on Monday, advancing to within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of Baghdad's city limits and bringing Iraq's security forces to the brink of collapse.

The U.N. Security Council condemned an attempt to assassinate Afghan presidential frontrunner Abdullah Abdullah on Friday, calling for an orderly transition to a new government.

Abdullah escaped an assassination attempt when two blasts hit his campaign motorcade in Kabul, killing at least six people just ahead of next week's hotly contested runoff.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is expected to visit Turkey on Monday, for the first time since he was elected last year, a Turkish official said.

The Iranian leader is expected to meet Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara for talks on bilateral ties and the broader Middle East, the official told Agence France Presse on Thursday.

Iran's supreme leader said Wednesday that years of "troublemaking" by arch-foe the United States had not broken the Islamic republic, which must face head-on its challenges at home and abroad.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not refer to ongoing nuclear talks with a group of world powers that includes the U.S. whose leaders repeatedly say all options, including military action, remain on the table if diplomacy fails to curb Iran's nuclear drive.