Tunisia's Islamist party Ennahda, tipped to dominate elections later this month, on Saturday condemned an attack on the home of a television chief over alleged blasphemy, denying any role in it.

But Ennahda party chief Rached Ghannouchi equally accused the Nessma television station of "provocation" for airing a film that depicts an image of God as an old, bearded man.

Saudi Arabia has asked U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to inform the Security Council of the "heinous conspiracy" to kill its envoy to Washington, in an alleged Iranian plot, SPA state news agency said on Saturday.

"The Saudi permanent mission to the United Nations in New York has ...formally requested the U.N. secretary general to inform the Security Council of the heinous conspiracy to assassinate the Saudi ambassador," it said.

Omanis voted on Saturday to elect their purely consultative Majlis al-Shura council, which Sultan Qaboos has pledged to vest with new authorities in response to unprecedented social unrest.

Voting centers across the sultanate closed at 7:00 pm (15:00 GMT) after opening for 12 hours and drawing a "strong" turnout, according to an electoral commission official.

Palestinian groups are planning celebrations to mark the release of prisoners by Israel as part of a deal to secure the exchange of Gilad Shalit, a statement said on Saturday.

"All organizations have agreed to begin preparations for the reception of the prisoners, to receive them like heroes with official and popular celebrations," said the statement, read out at a news conference in Gaza by a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees.

Egypt's ruling military approved Saturday a law to punish discrimination after clashes between soldiers and Christians killed 25 people in the country's worst violence since a revolt this year.

The amendment to the criminal code states a punishment of a fine no less than 30,000 pounds (5,000 dollars) for discrimination based on "gender, origin, language, religion or beliefs."

A top Saudi official warned on Saturday that the kingdom will not tolerate any riots at the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca next month, at a time of rising tension with Iran.

"We will not allow anything that would disrupt the peace of the hajj pilgrimage and disturb the pilgrims. That is why we shall not tolerate any damage, riots or chaos during the season of hajj or out of it," Prince Khaled al-Faisal, governor of Mecca province, told reporters.

Arab foreign ministers will meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss Syrian President Bashar Assad's crackdown on protests, the official MENA news agency reported.

The agency cited the Arab League's deputy leader Ahmed Ben Helli as saying the meeting would be held at the request of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

President Bashar Assad on Saturday announced the creation of an ad hoc committee tasked with preparing a new constitution for Syria within four months, the official SANA news agency said.

It said Assad issued a decree establishing the national committee to draft a new constitution in a period "not exceeding four months from the date of its creation."

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dismissed Saturday U.S. allegations of a Tehran-sponsored assassination plot as "absurd," in his first direct reaction to the claim.

"It's a meaningless and absurd accusation regarding a number of Iranians," he told a crowd in the western city of Gilangharb in a speech carried by state television.

Yemeni police shot dead 12 people and injured dozens of others on Saturday as they opened fire on demonstrators in Sanaa demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh's resignation, medics said.

Security forces used live rounds as well as tear gas and water cannon to try to disperse hundreds of thousands of Saleh opponents trying to march on loyalist areas of the city center from their Change Square stronghold, witnesses said.