The United Arab Emirates said Monday it has issued a licence for a reactor at its Barakah nuclear power plant, the first in the Arab world, hailing a "historic moment".

The North African country of Algeria has been the scene for the past year of huge protests against the ruling elite and political system.

Turkey's foreign minister said on Sunday he has told his Russian counterpart that the Damascus regime's attacks on the last rebel-held bastion in Syria must stop.

Israel's military said on Sunday it had thwarted an attempted malware attack by Hamas that sought to gain access to soldiers' mobile phones by using seductive pictures of young women. 

Egypt's top prosecutor on Sunday denied allegations that police had tortured detained prominent rights activist Patrick Zaky while on a visit home from Italy.

The situation in wartorn Libya is "deeply troubling", a United Nations representative said Sunday, warning that a fragile truce was hanging "by a thread" as daily life in the North African country worsens.

Talks between Doha and Riyadh to resolve a two-year-old regional spat have stalled, Qatar's foreign minister has said, with diplomats and analysts suggesting the situation has hit a stalemate.

The fate of the crew of a Saudi warplane that crashed in Yemen remained uncertain Sunday after Iran-linked Huthi rebels claimed to have shot down the aircraft.

A demonstrator was shot dead near the Iraqi capital's main protest camp by unidentified attackers using a gun silencer, medics said Saturday, as police reported a spate of activist abductions.

A Saudi fighter jet crashed in conflict-torn Yemen, the Riyadh-led military coalition said Saturday, as the Huthi rebels said they downed the plane.