France expects Israel to make "gestures" over its construction of settlements on land the Palestinians want for a future state, President Francois Hollande said in Jerusalem on Sunday.

His remarks came just three days after the entire Palestinian negotiating team resigned in protest over continued Israeli settlement building which is threatening to sabotage the U.S.-backed direct peace talks which began in late July.

A series of bombings struck near markets, cafes and the theater in Baghdad on Sunday evening, the deadliest in nationwide attacks in which 22 people and 12 militants were killed.

The bloodshed, which left more than 70 wounded across the country, was the latest in a protracted surge in violence that has forced Iraq to appeal for international help in combating militancy just months before its first general election in four years.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Sunday that the peace process with the Palestinians was not "frozen," but said he was waiting for Palestinian concessions to move the talks forward.

"They're not frozen. We're talking," the Israeli leader said on CNN's "State of the Union" program.

Rare heavy downpours triggered flash floods in the Saudi capital on Sunday forcing schools and universities to close and prompting calls by the authorities for citizens to remain indoors.

At least three people were reported missing, the state news agency SPA said quoting civil defense spokesman Colonel Abdullah al-Harithi.

The Turkish army shot dead three Syrians attempting to illegally cross the border at a minefield separating the two countries, the news agency Dogon reported Sudnay.

At around 1:30 am local time Sunday (2330 GMT Saturday) the army fired at the Syrians, described as smugglers, after shouting warnings as they crossed the minefield near the village of Yeniyol in the southeastern Mardin region, the agency said.

Libya's deputy intelligence chief Mustafa Nuh was abducted Sunday in Tripoli, a security official told Agence France Presse, as tensions ran high in the capital following deadly violence over the weekend.

"The vice president of intelligence was abducted shortly after his arrival in Tripoli from a trip abroad," said the official, who declined to be identified.

An Egyptian minister on Sunday ruled out negotiations with the Muslim Brotherhood until the Islamists recognize the government's transition plan and renounces violence.

Social solidarity minister Ahmed al-Borei told Agence France Presse the Brotherhood must also accept Islamist president Mohammed Morsi's overthrow was a "revolution".

Syrian opposition chief Ahmed Jarba is "very interested" in travelling to Moscow to meet officials from the Russian government, a major backer of the Damascus regime, an adviser to Jarba told Agence France Presse Sunday.

Russia invited National Coalition president Jarba to Moscow from November 18 to 21, which would have coincided with a visit by representatives from President Bashar Assad's government, said Munzer Aqbiq.

Iran's conservative-dominated parliament on Sunday approved President Hassan Rouhani's nominee for sports minister, filling out the cabinet after rejecting a number of earlier picks, media reported.

Mahmoud Goudarzi, currently head of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Science at the University of Tehran, received 199 of the 267 votes cast, with 44 opposed and 24 abstaining.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is to visit Israel on Friday to discuss the Iranian nuclear talks and peace with the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Speaking to his ministers, Netanyahu said he would also discuss the Iran talks with French President Francois Hollande, who arrives in Israel later on Sunday, as well as with Russian President Vladimir Putin when he travels to meet him in Moscow on Wednesday.