Russia demanded Thursday that the U.N. shelve a report blaming the Syrian government for a sarin gas attack, and a new probe be conducted into use of the deadly nerve agent, according to a draft resolution obtained by AFP.

The text circulated to the Security Council also called for a six-month extension of the U.N.-led panel tasked with identifying who is behind chemical attacks in Syria's six-year war.

Israel's air force bombed a weapons depot in Syria's Homs province on Wednesday, adding to a series of strikes in recent weeks, according to a monitoring group.

Syrian opposition groups in exile vowed Wednesday to boycott peace talks with President Bashar al-Assad's regime that his ally Russia plans to host later this month, calling them "a joke."

Bahrain has charged jailed Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman with "spying" for Qatar, state prosecutors said Wednesday, after allegations he whipped up protests at Doha's request.  

It was just 67 words written in a faraway country a century ago, but it shaped their lives, Israelis and Palestinians say.

Libya's coastguard has rescued nearly 300 migrants including dozens of women and children from unseaworthy boats as they tried to reach Europe, a navy official said Wednesday.

The handing over of Gaza Strip border crossings by Islamist movement Hamas to the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday is the latest step in efforts to end a 10-year rift.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iran's leadership Wednesday, with the two Damascus allies pushing a peace deal on Syria and looking to boost business despite U.S. opposition to a landmark nuclear deal.

A Saudi-led coalition air strike killed 29 people at a crowded marketplace in the heartland of the Iran-backed Huthi rebels in northern Yemen on Wednesday, Huthi health authorities said.

A hardline Islamist stabbed two Tunisian policemen on Wednesday in front of parliament, gravely wounding one of them, the interior ministry said.