Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl called in an interview with a German newspaper Friday for an EU embargo on weapons deliveries to Saudi Arabia.

A United Nations plan to end the seven-year civil war in Syria has run aground after Damascus blocked the world body's proposal for a committee to draft a new constitution, provoking anger among western powers.

U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura has been working since January on forming a group of 150 members to thrash out a new constitution, seen as a first step to winding down a conflict that has cost more than 360,000 lives.

Turkey on Friday said it wanted 18 Saudis extradited over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara still had more evidence to reveal in the case.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced Friday he has selected Aviv Kochavi, a former military intelligence head, as the army's new chief of staff.

The Turkish fiancee of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Friday called for all those responsible for his murder to be brought to justice.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made the first visit to Oman by an Israeli premier in over 20 years, officials said Friday, in an apparent sign of growing regional ties. 

The surprise meeting with Oman's Sultan Qaboos late Thursday, which was kept secret until Netanyahu's return home, comes despite the two nations having no diplomatic ties.

Stopping arms sales to Saudi Arabia because of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi would be "pure demagoguery", French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday.

A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli fire in fresh clashes on the Gaza border Friday, the health ministry in the enclave said.

The Kremlin said Friday that Russia believes Saudi royals were not involved in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi after Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed it with Saudi King Salman.

Saudi Arabia's chief prosecutor will visit Istanbul to speak with Turkish authorities as part of the investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Turkey's president said Friday, adding that Ankara has yet more evidence in the case.