Russia must push Damascus to seriously engage in peace talks in Geneva, a U.S. official said Friday as a second negotiation round appeared to be fizzling out with no sign of progress.

"We think that Russia has a responsibility to press the Syrian regime to approach these talks with seriousness," the senior U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

Thousands of Libyans took to the streets for the second consecutive Friday to protest against a decision by the interim parliament to extend its mandate.

The General National Congress (GNC), Libya's top political authority, was elected in July 2012 for a term of 18 months and tasked with leading the country's transition after the 2011 uprising.

Clashes between supporters of Egypt's deposed president Mohammed Morsi police killed two people Friday, including a child, security officials said.

The violence erupted after weekly Muslim prayers, as on nearly every Friday since the army overthrew Morsi in July, with supporters of the Islamist leader clashing with police.

A Bahraini police bus was struck in a bomb attack in the Shiite village of Daih on Friday, the interior ministry said, without giving an immediate report of casualties.

"Terrorist explosion in Daih damaged a bus transporting police personnel," it announced in an English-language statement on Twitter.

Israeli troops fired tear gas and live bullets at Palestinians throwing stones Friday near the border fence in northern Gaza, the army said, with Palestinian medics saying 17 men were wounded.

Clashes are common on Fridays, with regular protests near the border in support of Gaza farmers who say troops uprooted their trees to create a buffer zone.

A fresh round of U.N.-brokered peace talks between Syria's government and opposition has made no progress, the two sides said Friday.

"We deeply regret that this round did not make any progress," Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Muqdad told reporters as both sides traded blame over the deadlock in the Geneva talks, the second round of which began Monday.

The U.N.'s human rights office Friday raised the alarm over a looming Syrian government offensive on the opposition-held town of Yabroud, saying it feared civilians would bear the brunt.

"We are deeply concerned that the attack on Yabroud may follow the pattern of previous attacks on cities and towns across Syria," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi appeared to further set the stage this week for a presidential bid when he traveled to Russia, where President Vladimir Putin endorsed him as leader-in-waiting.

It was Sisi's first trip abroad since he overthrew Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July, setting off months of deadly unrest.

Niger on Friday handed over to Libya slain dictator Moammar Gadhafi's former chief of internal security Abdullah Mansur, the Libyan government announced.

A government statement said Tripoli had given the authorities in Niamey evidence implicating Mansur "in planning terrorist acts aimed at destabilizing Libya".

A car bombing outside a mosque in southern Syria killed dozens of people Friday and rebels detonated mines under a hotel in the north, killing five soldiers, monitors said.

At least 33 people, including 12 rebel fighters, were killed when the car blew up in front of the mosque in the rebel-held village of Yaduda in the southern Daraa province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.