The U.S. will use "all elements of its national power" to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, President Joe Biden pledged in a security declaration signed with Israel on Thursday.

In the document inked by Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in Jerusalem, the two countries "reaffirm the unbreakable bonds between our two countries and the enduring commitment of the United States to Israel's security."

Mahmud Aguil has a comfortable house in Libya's capital Tripoli, but chronic power outages in the war-battered country and roasting summer heat now force him to sleep in his air-conditioned van.

"This is my bedroom," the 48-year-old said pointing to the cramped vehicle, its back seats removed to make space for him and his two young children. "In the morning I wake up with a terrible backache. 

Libya's Tripoli-based government has named a new head of the state oil company to replace veteran technocrat Mustafa Sanalla, who refused to give up his post.

Unlike many other Libyan state bodies, the National Oil Corporation, led by Sanalla since 2014, has largely managed to remain neutral in the face of political wrangling.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has shaken up the conservative kingdom with head-spinning reforms while quashing any threats to his status since becoming de facto ruler of the world's biggest oil producer five years ago.

The hard-charging heir drew international revulsion after Saudi agents killed and dismembered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, but U.S. President Joe Biden's visit to the kingdom this week looks set to restore his position on the international stage, forcing world leaders to deal with him whether they want to or not. 

Israeli journalist Yoav Limor did not know what to expect when he travelled with a colleague this month to Saudi Arabia, a country long notorious for promoting anti-Israel sentiment in textbooks and in sermons by some imams.   

They were in for "a pleasant surprise", he wrote in a subsequent column for the Israel Hayom newspaper, as Saudi market vendors and taxi drivers mostly greeted them with curiosity rather than disdain.

The widow of Jamal Khashoggi, the U.S.-based writer killed by Saudi government agents four years ago, said Wednesday that she received a commitment that President Joe Biden will bring up the murder when he meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

The crown prince, whom Biden will be meeting for the first time in Jeddah on Friday, likely approved of the killing, according to U.S. intelligence.

President Joe Biden, facing his own set of challenges back in Washington, will spend Thursday navigating Israel's chaotic politics as he meets with the country's leaders to bolster cooperation with the United States and other nations.

Biden begins the day by sitting down with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who became head of an interim government earlier this month after the previous coalition collapsed. The country is holding its fifth election in less than four years in November.

President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Thursday discussed Iran's rapidly progressing nuclear program, with the Israeli leader vowing afterward that "there will be no nuclear Iran."

The U.S. president, who is set to travel to Saudi Arabia on Friday, said he also stressed to Lapid the importance of Israel becoming "totally integrated" in the region.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has invited relatives of slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to Washington, an American official said Wednesday, as Biden arrived in Israel. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken "has invited the family to the United States to be able to sit down and engage with him directly", Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One, which later touched down in Israel shortly past 1200 GMT. 

Several dozen organizations have called on Egypt to end its crackdown on civil society and allow people to exercise freedom of expression ahead of the Egypt-hosted U.N. summit on climate change.

In a joint statement signed by 36 groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, they expressed concern that Egypt will largely keep in place its prohibition on protests during the conference in November.