Seventeen people were missing and hundreds of others evacuated from their homes Thursday after a cyclone hit Socotra, with Yemen's government declaring the island a "disaster province."

Algeria blasted rights groups on Thursday for leading a "malicious campaign" against it, after NGOs accused the North African country of arresting sub-Saharan migrants en masse and forcefully deporting them.

Saudi air defences on Thursday intercepted a ballistic missile over the southern city of Jizan after it was fired from rebel-held territory in neighbouring Yemen, a Saudi-led military coalition said.

The Pentagon denied reports Thursday that the U.S.-led coalition had killed at least 12 pro-regime fighters in Syria.

The United States is considering whether to cut funding to two UN agencies and the chemical weapons watchdog after the Palestinians joined the organizations, a US official said Wednesday.

At least five people were killed and several others wounded when a suicide bomber struck a cafe in Baghdad, police said Thursday, in a pre-dawn attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Thursday he would request approval from a planning committee for the building of 2,500 new homes in 30 West Bank settlements.
"The 2,500 new units we'll approve in the planning committee next week are for immediate construction in 2018," Lieberman said in a statement, adding he would also seek the committee's approval for a further 1,400 settlement units for later construction.

An Israeli court on Wednesday suspended an expulsion order for Human Rights Watch's country director until a decision is taken on a HRW legal challenge against it, the rights watchdog said.
The injunction granted by the district court in Jerusalem came only a day ahead of the deadline for Omar Shakir to leave Israel after authorities accused him of previously supporting a boycott of the country.

Egyptian blogger and journalist Wael Abbas, known for taking a stand against police violence, was arrested during the night of Tuesday and Wednesday at his home in Cairo, his lawyer told AFP.

Senior Russian military officials on Wednesday called for the United Nations and other international organizations to help rebuild Syrian territory recaptured by government forces, in order to consolidate the "successes" of the military campaign.
