Kuwait opposition groups on Sunday formed a broad-based coalition, apparently to reinvigorate a sagging protest movement, and demanded fundamental reforms including a multi-party democratic system.

A policeman was killed Sunday and an army officer was wounded in Egypt's city of Port Said, the army said, after the authorities decided to move prisoners awaiting a verdict over alleged involvement in a deadly football riot.

Iran's atomic chief said on Sunday that Tehran planned to install 3,000 new generation centrifuges at one of its nuclear plants, confirming what the UN nuclear watchdog reported in February.

President Bashar al-Assad has insisted he will not step down and blasted Britain's support for his foes, as opposition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib visited north Syria Sunday and hundreds were reported killed in a battle.

Israel said it will reopen the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing into southern Gaza on Monday, six days after closing it after a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave hit the Jewish state.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Sunday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was "delusional" for failing to see that the bloodshed in his country was at his own hands.

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday urged Egypt to make compromises to end its political divisions, as he pledged $250 million in US aid to help revive the country's dilapidated economy.

Protesters clashed with police Sunday in the Egyptian city of Port Said as the interior ministry decided to move 39 prisoners awaiting a verdict over alleged involvement in a deadly football riot, a security official said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in the Saudi capital on Sunday for talks with the Gulf monarchies on Iran and the deadly conflict roiling Syria.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday met potential coalition partners after being given a two-week extension to form a new government after failing to do so for a month.

Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad on Sunday accepted the resignation of his finance minister Nabil Qassis, a government statement read.

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday urged Egypt to work harder and make compromises for ending its political divisions, as he pledged $250 million in US aid to revive the country's dilapidated economy.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday condemned a NATO helicopter strike in which two brothers, both under seven years old, were shot dead after being mistaken for Taliban insurgents.

A suicide bomber struck in an area between major shrines in the Iraqi Shiite holy city of Karbala on Sunday, wounding 10 people, while other attacks left five dead, officials said.

The United States will provide Egypt with the first $190 million of a pledged $450 million in budget support and an additional $60 million to set up a joint enterprise fund, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview published here Sunday that he did not rule out retaliation for an Israeli air raid near Damascus in January.

Egypt's Finance Minister Al-Morsi al-Sayyed Hegazi said on Sunday he expected his government to reach an agreement with the IMF on a $4.8 billion loan before parliamentary elections in April, state media reported.

President Bashar al-Assad insisted he will not step down and blasted Britain's support for his armed foes who reportedly killed dozens of soldiers on Sunday in attacks on a police academy in northern Syria.

A retrial of former president Hosni Mubarak, jailed for life for his role in the deaths of protesters in 2011, is to open on April 13, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported on Sunday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry met the Egyptian president on Sunday as he wraps up a trip to Cairo, where he urged divided factions to reach a consensus that would pave the way for economic recovery.