U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was due in Algiers later Wednesday at the start of a North African tour expected to be dominated by the threat posed by al-Qaida.

Jihadist violence has plagued the vast Sahel-Sahara region since the 2011 overthrow of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, prompting a French-led military intervention in Algeria's southern neighbor Mali in January last year.

Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said Wednesday he has delivered requests for membership of several U.N. agencies, as part of a move that shook a fragile Middle East peace process.

"I presented the letters signed by (Palestinian president Mahmoud) Abbas this morning to U.N. special envoy Robert Serry, as well as to the representatives of the Netherlands and Switzerland," said Malki.

The German government agreed on Wednesday to send a frigate to take part in an international mission in the Mediterranean Sea to destroy Syria's chemical weapons.

Up to 300 German soldiers will take part in the deployment to help protect the U.S. vessel, MV Cape Ray, aboard which the weapons will be broken down at sea using hydrolysis.

The Palestinians expressed full backing Wednesday for U.S. efforts to salvage crisis-hit peace talks, despite a controversial move to seek international recognition after Israel stalled a release of prisoners.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was on Wednesday scrambling to save his faltering Middle East peace efforts just hours after the Palestinians publicly reneged on a commitment to freeze such moves.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said Wednesday that key ally Moscow had helped re-establish "a multipolar world", as he met with a high-level Russian delegation in Damascus.

The delegation was delivering a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has provided political, military and financial backing to Assad's regime since the outbreak of a revolt in March 2011.

Two bombs targeting security posts near Cairo University exploded in quick succession Wednesday killing a police general, followed by a third blast as police and journalists gathered at the scene.

Witnesses said the blasts sent up a cloud of smoke and dust near the campus, the scene of repeated clashes in the past few months between Islamist students and police.

Qatar's emir held talks in Sudan on Wednesday at a time of strained ties with his country's Gulf neighbors over its perceived support for the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani was greeted at Khartoum airport by Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, for what an analyst called a meeting of two regionally-isolated regimes.

Al-Qaida attacked a Yemeni army headquarters in a heavily patrolled district of Aden on Wednesday, sparking a gun battle that killed 20 people, most of them militants, officials said.

The building targeted is located in the supposedly tightly secured coastal district of Tawahi that hosts intelligence and political police headquarters, a naval base and a presidential residence.

Iraq Attacks Kill 14 as U.N. Warns of 'Divisive' Polls

Attacks against security forces killed 14 people Wednesday as the U.N.'s envoy to Iraq warned that the country's election campaign would be "highly divisive" amid a year-long surge in bloodshed.

Iran on Wednesday rejected Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi's accusations it was stoking unrest in his country and urged Sanaa to track down the killers of an Iranian diplomat in Sanaa.

The accusations are "without foundation", said foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham, quoted by ISNA news agency.