Germany's Olaf Scholz has said that a new Iran nuclear agreement "cannot be postponed any longer", during his first visit as chancellor to Israel which staunchly opposes efforts to forge a deal with Tehran.

The United Arab Emirates and the United States are facing a "stress test" in their relationship, a senior Emirati diplomat said Thursday, as Russia's war in Ukraine strains ties.

More than a decade after a wave of uprisings swept across the Middle East, countless dissidents have encountered grim fates: exiled, imprisoned, disappeared, dead.

Until mere months ago, Musallam al-Barrak, the icon of opposition in Kuwait, seemed another Arab Spring casualty.

Israel’s president says his country is helping to push for a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine and is offering its services to achieve that.

President Isaac Herzog said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart on Wednesday that Israel is also sending an “unprecedented amount” of humanitarian aid to Ukraine, totaling some 100 tons.

Rights groups and observers say Russia is using cluster bombs in its invasion of Ukraine, a charge Moscow denies. If confirmed, deployment of the weapon, especially in crowded civilian areas, would usher in new humanitarian concerns in the conflict, Europe's largest ground war in generations.

Israel has used cluster bombs in civilian areas in south Lebanon, including during the 1982 invasion that saw Israeli troops reach the capital Beirut.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday made his first visit to Israel since taking office, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine and international efforts to forge a new Iran nuclear deal.

Scholz toured Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and laid a wreath. He was later due to meet Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and visit the Knesset, or parliament.

Libyan lawmakers have confirmed a new transitional government, a move that is likely to lead to parallel administrations and fuel mounting tensions in a country that has been mired in conflict for the past decade.

Prime Minister-designate Fathi Bashagha submitted his Cabinet to the east-based House of Representatives, where 92 of 101 lawmakers in attendance approved it in a vote broadcast live from the city of Tobruk.

The U.N. Security Council has voted to impose an expanded arms embargo on Yemen's Houthi rebels, saying they have threatened the peace, security and stability of the war-torn country.

Council members said the rebels are responsible for attacking civilians, commercial shipping in the Red Sea, and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

From a tent in the rebel-held pocket of Syria, Ahmad Rakan has closely followed news of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. More than two years ago, a Russian airstrike destroyed his house in a nearby village during a months-long Syrian government offensive backed by Moscow's firepower that drove him and tens of thousands of others from their homes.

"We more than anyone else feel their pain," he said of Ukrainian civilians currently under Russian bombardment.

Israel has begun sending 100 tons of humanitarian aid to assist people caught up in the fighting in Ukraine.

A plane was loaded with dozens of cardboard boxes Tuesday at the country's main international airport. Israel's Foreign Ministry says it is sending medical equipment and medicine, water purification systems, thousands of tents, blankets, sleeping bags and coats. The planes will land in Poland and the aid will be sent to Ukraine from there.