Amnesty International on Saturday urged Jordan to free six political activists charged with insulting King Abdullah II, saying that at least three of them were beaten during interrogation.

The human rights watchdog "is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of six pro-reform activists held for 'insulting' the king," it said in a statement.

Israel's U.N. ambassador said Friday that his government has made no decision yet on whether it will attend a proposed international conference on a nuclear weapons free Middle East.

But the envoy, Ron Prosor, insisted there could be no accord on a weapons free zone until there is a "comprehensive peace" in the region.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton geared up for talks in Saudi Arabia on Saturday about plans for a Gulf missile shield against Iran and ways to press Tehran's ally Syria to stop killing Syrians.

After meeting King Abdullah and other Saudis in Riyadh on Friday, Clinton was to consult with her counterparts from Saudi Arabia and its five Gulf Arab neighbors, all of them U.S. allies.

The bid to overthrow Syria's government is over, and the battle now is to secure stability, foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi said in a report by state media on Saturday.

"The battle to topple the state is over, and the battle to solidify stability... and move on towards a renewed Syria has begun," Makdisi was cited as saying by the official SANA news agency.

At least 40 people were killed in heavy fighting on Saturday between the army and suspected al-Qaida militants in Yemen's southern province of Lahij, officials said.

"Twenty-eight soldiers were killed" in the fighting which erupted when the Islamist fighters attacked army positions in Mallah, a town in Lahij, an army officer on the ground told Agence France Presse.

Canada tightened the sanctions Friday on Syria, targeting President Bashar al-Assad's wife, mother, sister and sister-in-law a week after the European Union made a similar move.

Stepping up its sanctions as fighting raged after an embattled Assad said he had accepted a peace plan to put an end to a year of violence that has left over 9,000 dead, Canada said it sought a "Syria that respects the fundamental rights of all its people."

Egyptian Islamist sheikh Hazem Abu Ismail kicked off his candidacy for the presidency on Friday with a large motorcade that headed to the electoral committee headquarters in Cairo.

Witnesses said dozens of vehicles packed with the ultra-conservative's supporters left a mosque with the statutory 30,000 endorsements from citizens required to register as a candidate.

The United States hit Syria's defense minister and two other senior military figures with sanctions Friday, ramping pressure on Bashar al-Assad's regime as U.N. efforts failed to halt violence.

The Treasury Department announced measures against Dawoud Rajiha as well as the army's deputy chief of staff and the head of presidential security.

More than 15,000 people in Jordan, including opposition Islamists and trade unionists, held a peaceful sit-in near the border with Israel on Friday to mark Land Day.

Waving Jordanian and Palestinian flags, the demonstrators carried banners reading: "Freedom for Jerusalem and freedom for Palestine," and "Jerusalem, here we come," as they gathered in Kafrein, some 10 kilometers (six miles) from the border crossing and barely a kilometer and a half (a mile) from the frontier.

Amnesty on Friday urged Bahrain to immediately release a rights activist jailed for his role in anti-regime protests, warning his life is at risk after a hunger strike of more than seven weeks.

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja had lost 16 kilograms (35 pounds) since beginning a hunger strike 50 days ago, the London-based human rights watchdog said, citing the activist's lawyer.