Egypt's deposed president Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday asked current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for "permission" to disclose sensitive information in the retrial of ousted Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi. 

Suicide attackers stormed the Libyan foreign ministry in the capital Tripoli on Tuesday, killing at least three people including a senior civil servant in an attack claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.

Pro-Turkish armed groups have reinforced their presence on the outskirts of the city of Manbij in northern Syria as Ankara threatens a new offensive against Kurdish forces, sources said Wednesday.

Israel's government decided this week to dissolve parliament and hold early elections on April 9, seven months before their November due date.

Clashes between protesters and security forces in an impoverished Tunisian city where a journalist burned himself to death over economic conditions spread to two other towns overnight, authorities said Wednesday.

A U.N.-led truce monitoring team including members of Yemen's warring sides held its first meeting in the flashpoint city of Hodeida on Wednesday, a pro-government official told AFP.

"We are expecting a good outcome," said the official, who requested anonymity.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent more troops to Syria's border on Monday ahead of an imminent U.S. withdrawal, as the White House announced he had invited Donald Trump to Ankara. 

Pope Francis used his Christmas message Tuesday to appeal for peace in conflict zones such as Syria and Yemen, whose populations face some of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

A Tunisian journalist has died after setting himself on fire, officials said, in a protest over harsh living conditions that prompted overnight clashes with police in the country's west. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a skilled survivor of Israel's cutthroat politics, is hoping snap elections will help him withstand a potential corruption indictment, analysts say, and polls show he is likely to succeed.