Saudi authorities have banned prominent rights activist Waleed Abu Alkhair from travelling to the United States where he was to attend a forum organized by the U.S. State Department, he told Agence France Presse.

"Public prosecutors have issued an order banning me from travel for security reasons, two days before I must head to Washington to take part" in the forum, Alkhair said late on Wednesday.

The rebel Free Syrian Army has set up a military council to coordinate operations around Damascus, as it brings the year-old conflict to the capital, it announced in an online video on Thursday.

"I, Colonel Khaled Mohammed al-Hammoud, announce the creation of the military council for Damascus and the region that will be in charge of FSA operations in this region," an army deserter said in the video.

Israel and the U.S. disagree on what would be a realistic timetable for stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, Israel's defense minister said Thursday, but stopped short of threatening unilateral Israeli action.

Ehud Barak reiterated concerns that Iran is trying to make its suspected nuclear weapons program immune from attack before taking a decision on assembling atomic bombs.

Suspected al-Qaida gunmen killed a Yemeni intelligence officer by cutting his throat after kidnapping him at Mukalla, capital of the southeastern Hadramawt province, a police official told Agence France Presse.

"Commander Faraj Saeed al-Odsani was snatched (Wednesday) afternoon from a road near Mukalla airport by al-Qaida gunmen who drove him towards the nearby province of Shabwa," an al-Qaida stronghold, the official said.

Syrian army troops rained shells on the Homs district of Khaldiyeh on Wednesday and killed at least 70 people across the country, activists said.

"Khaldiyeh is being bombed, with shells and rockets, for a second day," Hadi Abdullah of the Syrian Revolution General Commission told Agence France Presse, reached by telephone from Beirut.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday praised the U.N. statement on Syria and warned President Bashar al-Assad to carry out the peace plan or face "increasing pressure."

Clinton said that the long-divided U.N. Security Council has taken "a positive step" after it adopted a statement demanding that Syria immediately implement a peace plan proposed by former secretary general Kofi Annan.

Thousands of Syrian Kurds held demonstrations in northern Syria on Wednesday to mark the Kurdish New Year, as seen in videos posted online by anti-regime activists.

In the main northern city of Aleppo, demonstrators waving Kurdish flags shouted slogans such as "Azadi", meaning freedom in the Kurds' Kurmanji language, and "Our Syrian revolution is for justice, dignity and freedom."

The electric fuse connects to the battery, Abu Suleiman shouts "Allahu Akbar!" and the gas canister explodes, tearing up the road just a few kilometers (miles) from a Syrian army position.

For the rebel chief, whose men control a mountainous region of northern Syria, preventing the army from using this route near the Turkish border is a matter of life or death.

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday adopted a presidential statement demanding that Syria "immediately" implement a peace plan proposed by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan and giving a veiled warning of international measures.

The statement, which has less weight than a formal resolution, says the Council will "consider further steps as appropriate" if Annan reports that the Damascus government is not cooperating.

Libya said Wednesday Mauritania had agreed to hand over Moammar Gadhafi’s former spy chief for trial on home soil, turning down rival extradition requests from France and a war crimes court.

"We have obtained an agreement from Mauritania to deliver (Abdullah) Senussi to Libya where he will receive a fair trial. No date has been decided upon but it will be very soon," government spokesman Nasser al-Manaa said.