Kuwait has joined its Gulf partners Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates and decided to reopen its Yemeni embassy in Aden, instead of the militia-controlled capital Sanaa.

"In the framework of supporting constitutional legitimacy in Yemen represented in President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi... the state of Kuwait has decided to reopen its embassy in the city of Aden," the foreign ministry said, quoted by the official KUNA news agency.

Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday defended Britain's security services and vowed to defeat Islamic extremists after media reports named Islamic State executioner "Jihadi John" as London graduate Mohammed Emwazi.

"We will do everything we can with the police, the security services, with all that we have at our disposal, to find these people and put them out of action," Cameron said at news conference in Wales.

New Pentagon chief Ashton Carter will hold talks Monday in Kuwait with top U.S. commanders and diplomats to discuss the war effort against the Islamic State jihadist group, officials said.

Carter flew to Kuwait City from Afghanistan on Sunday to chair the extraordinary meeting that will see more than two dozen senior military officers and ambassadors gather at the sprawling U.S. Army base of Camp Arifjan, officials said.

Kuwait's appeals court sentenced prominent opposition leader Mussallam al-Barrak to two years in jail on Sunday on charges of insulting the Gulf state's ruler, his group said.

The charges relate to a speech he gave to tens of thousands of demonstrators in October 2012 protesting changes to the electoral law which he said would allow the ruling Al-Sabah family to manipulate the outcome of elections.

Kuwait's appeal court on Wednesday increased by two years the four-year jail sentence of an activist who tweeted comments deemed offensive to Gulf powerhouse Saudi Arabia.

Saleh al-Saeed was sentenced to four years in jail in December by a lower court for posting comments on Twitter in which he accused Saudi Arabia of grabbing land in Kuwait and Bahrain.

Kuwait's lower court on Wednesday upheld a government decision to shut leading newspaper Al-Watan which has been highly critical of the government, a lawyer for the paper said.

"The court rejected our challenge to two decisions by the ministries of commerce and information to revoke the commercial and media licences of Al-Watan," attorney Rashed al-Radaan told Agence France Presse.

Kuwaiti Oil Minister Ali al-Omair said Monday that world crude prices have recovered "faster" than expected and that recent gains will likely hold.

"Oil prices have improved faster than expected," Omair told reporters.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Thursday urged tighter screening of migrants after police thwarted an alleged terror attack, while vowing that "ugly fanaticism" will be defeated.

Two men were arrested on Tuesday after police seized an Islamic State flag, a machete and an Arabic-language video detailing the apparent plot during a raid in Sydney.

A power blackout hit most of the energy-rich Gulf state of Kuwait Wednesday, disrupting traffic and a number of vital facilities but without affecting oil installations.

The electricity and water ministry said a technical problem at one of the country's five power plants forced it to cut power as a precautionary measure to protect the network, according the KUNA news agency.

Kuwait's appeals court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence of a policeman for "abducting, raping and attempting to murder" a Filipina woman.

The lower court condemned the policeman, identified only by the initials Y.M, to death last June. He can still challenge the ruling before the supreme court.