The Iraqi parliament approved 14 new cabinet ministers Thursday proposed by prime minister-designate Adel Abdel Mahdi, even as key portfolios such as defence and interior affairs remained unassigned, an official said.

In a desert camp along Syria's border with Jordan, nearly 50,000 displaced people struggle to eke out a living. There are no clinics, no nappies and little food -- welcome to Rukban.

Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince said Wednesday his country would be "totally different" within five years, vowing to pursue sweeping reforms to diversify its economy away from oil.

France is seeking to repatriate some of the 150 children of French jihadists identified as being in Syria, as Western nations grapple with how to handle citizens who left to join extremists.

France will take "punitive measures" if Saudi Arabia is "proven" to be behind the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said Wednesday, adding that Paris would first have to verify Riyadh's involvement.

Saudi authorities denied permission to Turkish police to search a well in the garden of the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul as part of a probe into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, state media reported Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia's crown prince Wednesday denounced the murder of critic Jamal Khashoggi as a "repulsive incident," insisting the kingdom was cooperating with Turkish authorities and that "justice will prevail."

"The incident was very painful for all Saudis, it's a repulsive incident and no one can justify it," Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in his first comments since the murder of the journalist.

The Japanese government on Wednesday confirmed that a journalist kidnapped in Syria more than three years ago has been freed and is in Turkey.

Outgoing U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura met with Syria's top diplomat in Damascus on Wednesday, the U.N. and state media said, to try to make progress on a post-war constitution.

The EU must press for the full details in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and avoid any "trace of hypocrisy," European Council President Donald Tusk warned Wednesday.

In a speech to the European Parliament, Tusk said he expected EU member states and institutions to avoid any "ambiguous game" over the murder of a critic of Saudi Arabia, a major Western ally.