A drone strike has killed two suspected members of Al-Qaeda in central Yemen, a local government official said on Friday.

The head of one of Turkey's largest media groups, Dogan Media, quit on Friday after hackers released what they said were emails showing him yielding to editorial pressure from members of President Tayyip Erdogan's inner circle.

Russia is sending more warplanes to Syria to further ramp up its campaign of air strikes, a Russian newspaper reported on Friday, as Moscow defied global censure over an escalation that Western countries say has torpedoed diplomacy.

World leaders bid farewell to Israeli elder statesman and Nobel Peace laureate Shimon Peres at his funeral in Jerusalem on Friday, with US President Barack Obama hailing him as a giant of the 20th century.

A Cypriot court ruled on Friday that an Egyptian man accused of hijacking a plane and diverting it to Cyprus can be extradited to Cairo for his alleged crimes.

The United States is on the verge of ending its Syria diplomacy with Russia and is looking at new options on how it might seek to end the 5-1/2 civil war, US officials said yesterday.

Mourned internationally as a peacemaker, Israeli ex-president Shimon Peres’s death has met with official silence in most Arab countries, where public opinion vilified the Nobel laureate as a “war criminal”.

Former Barcelona football player Xavi Hernandez (R), who currently plays for Al Sadd in the Qatar Stars League, takes part in a football training session as he visits the Al Baqaa Palestinian refugee camp near Amman.

US law allowing lawsuits against Saudi Arabia over the September 11 attacks met a stony silence from Riyadh yesterday but some Saudis bristled, saying the kingdom could curb business and security ties in response to an ally’s perceived affront.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan suggested on Thursday that emergency rule could be extended beyond a year and rounded on rating agencies after Moody's cut Turkey to "junk" status.

Israeli security forces were on high alert with world leaders set to gather for the funeral of former president Shimon Peres on Friday, deploying thousands of officers and closing off key roads.

Saudi Arabia's top religious authority urged citizens to support government austerity measures, saying recent decrees were temporary moves necessitated by public interest, a newspaper reported on Thursday.