German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Thursday Germany was expelling four diplomats from the Syrian embassy in Berlin after the arrest of two men suspected of spying on regime opponents.

"After the arrest of two people suspected of spying for Syria, I have decided to expel four members of the Syrian embassy in Berlin," Westerwelle said in a statement.

China said Thursday it held talks with a key Syrian opposition group this week, amid fierce criticism of its decision to block a U.N. resolution condemning a bloody crackdown in the Middle East country.

China and Russia drew international ire for blocking the U.N. Security Council resolution on Saturday, with Washington calling their rejection a "travesty" and another Syrian opposition group saying they had handed President Bashar Assad's regime a "license to kill.”

Yemeni security forces shot dead two southern Yemeni activists during a demonstration Thursday in Daleh against presidential elections to be held later this month, witnesses and activists said.

"Southerner wake up, no more elections," chanted the protesters referring to a referendum-like election in which Vice President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi stands as a sole candidate based on a Gulf brokered deal signed by departing President Ali Abdullah Saleh in November.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak arrived in the Qatari capital Doha Thursday after a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, where he secured pledges to ensure a stable supply of oil to the East Asian nation.

He is on a regional tour that will also include a stop in the United Arab Emirates.

Syria's top Muslim cleric has thanked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his unwavering support of Syria's government as it deals with widespread unrest, the presidency website reported Thursday.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun conveyed the "thanks of the Syrian people and president for the stance of Ahmadinejad and our nation," the website said after a meeting between the two late Wednesday in Tehran.

Israel's hard-line approach to speculation that Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapon could have "catastrophic consequences", a senior Russian foreign ministry official warned Thursday.

"The inventions" concerning the possible development of nuclear arms by Iran "are increasing the tension and could encourage moves towards a military solution with catastrophic consequences," Mikhail Ulyanov told the Interfax news agency on Wednesday.

The Arab League and United Nations may send a joint observer mission to Syria where the government's deadly crackdown could worsen, U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday.

Ban launched the idea as he bemoaned the U.N. Security Council's failure to agree a resolution on the crisis, saying the vote had been "disastrous" for the Syrian people and had only encouraged President Bashar Assad to step up his "war" on opponents.

An Iranian deputy foreign minister, whose country remains an ally of unrest-swept Syria, held talks in Damascus on Wednesday with Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, Syria’s state news agency SANA said.

It said Muallem briefed the Iranian envoy, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, on the wide-ranging reforms being undertaken in Syria in the face of "ferocious attack ... by terrorist groups backed by foreign parties."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy Wednesday urged his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev to give full support to an Arab League peace plan to persuade Bashar al-Assad to quit as Syria's leader.

During a phone conversation, Sarkozy also told Medvedev of "the necessity to increase the pressure on the Syrian regime to cease its brutal repression of the Syria people," said a statement from the French president's office.

Tunisia's new President Moncef Marzouki arrived in Morocco Wednesday to push for a revival of a dormant project to unify the Maghreb region on his first foreign tour since taking office.

"This year we will work to restore unity with our brothers in Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Mauritania, with the aim of resuscitating the great dream of a Union of the Maghreb which has been frozen for years," he told the official Moroccan news agency MAP.