US Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday the death toll in Syria may have reached 90,000, citing figures given to him by his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Thursday appointed Prince Khaled bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz as the new governor of the capital Riyadh, the official SPA news agency reported.

An Israeli court on Thursday found two senior Hamas members who had taken refugee in Red Cross east Jerusalem offices guilty of "membership of a terror organisation" and staying in Israel without permits.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has summoned the new commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan over an air strike that allegedly killed ten civilians, according to a statement issued Thursday.

A new peace plan for Syria, involving the creation of a senate to oversee a power transition, is currently making the rounds in the United Nations, Saudi newspaper Asharq Alawsat reported.

A journalist who interviewed an Australian Jew shortly before he was detained by Israeli authorities and came to be known as "Prisoner X" said Thursday the man strenuously denied being a spy.

US Secretary of State John Kerry vowed Thursday that the United States would stand by Lebanon as he marked the eighth anniversary of the killing of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

The chief UN atomic inspector said Thursday that talks with Iran had failed again to reach a deal on enhanced inspections of Tehran's nuclear programme, two weeks before a major meeting with world powers.

Israel has confirmed it jailed a foreigner in solitary confinement on security grounds who later committed suicide, as Australia admitted Thursday it knew one of its citizens had been secretly held.

Assailants shot dead an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander in Syria while he was travelling by road from Damascus towards the Lebanese capital, the Iranian authorities said on Thursday.

The chief UN atomic inspector said Thursday that talks with Iran had failed again to reach a deal on enhanced inspections of Tehran's nuclear programme, two weeks before a major meeting with world powers.

The chief UN atomic inspector said Thursday that talks with Iran had failed again to reach a deal on agreeing enhanced inspections of Tehran's nuclear programme, and that no new meeting had been set.

Assailants shot dead a senior Iranian official in Syria while he was travelling by road towards the Lebanese capital overnight, the Iranian authorities said on Thursday.

An Iranian official was killed in Syria overnight by "armed terrorists" while travelling from Damascus towards Lebanon, the Iranian embassy in Beirut said in a statement on Thursday.

When Ranajit Rinku heard the "Butcher of Mirpur" had been jailed for life for mass murder during Bangladesh's liberation war, he couldn't believe a man with so much blood on his hands could escape the gallows.

Rebels in northern Syria have seized most of a military base, their third major battlefield success in as many days, as US Secretary of State John Kerry called on President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad Thursday urged East Asian donors to share their wealth and knowledge for nation-building efforts in his troubled region, during a conference in Tokyo.

Israel has confirmed it jailed a foreigner in solitary confinement on security grounds who later committed suicide, as Australia admitted Thursday it knew one of its citizens had been secretly held.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr admitted Thursday Canberra knew an Australian had been detained by Tel Aviv in 2010 for national security offences, as media suggested he may have been held for treason.

Israeli authorities demolished several buildings at a wildcat settlement outpost in the southern West Bank but the supreme court later issued a temporary injunction against further such action.