Indonesia has dug its heels in at the UN to push for dialogue as a means toward resolution, criticizing Wednesday's resolution expelling Iran from a women's commission as premature.

Biden will make the announcement during a three-day US-Africa Summit that opens Tuesday in Washington, where the administration will make a case for US commitment to the continent amid inroads by China and Russia.

The deal with United Torah Judaism (UTJ), announced late on Tuesday, promised Netanyahu control of 53 of the Knesset's 120 seats with his conservative Likud party. That left Shas, an ultra-Orthodox party with 11 seats, as Likud's last likely ally.

The overseas trip is only Xi's third since the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020, and his first to Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest crude oil exporter, since 2016.

The ruler of the oil giant has made a comeback on the world stage following the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi, which cast a pall over Saudi-US ties, and has been defiant in the face of US ire over the kingdom's energy policy and pressure from Washington to help isolate Russia.

The US administration expects "the new Israeli Government to continue to work with us to advance our shared values, just as we have previous governments," Blinken told the nonprofit J Street liberal advocacy group. "We will gauge the government by the policies it pursues rather than individual personalities," he said. 

Women-led protests, labelled "riots" by the authorities, have swept Iran since the 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin died on September 16, three days after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit Saudi Arabia that same month, according to Riyadh's foreign minister, but the consul statement did not specify whether the trip will coincide with the summit.

Climate change will end up killing people by fueling infectious diseases, the head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said Tuesday.

Turkey struck several targets in Syria on Tuesday after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued new threats to launch a ground operation "soon" against Kurdish fighters despite calls for de-escalation from Washington and Moscow.

Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman is expected not to have a meeting with United States President Joe Biden at the G20 summit, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday. 

Sullivan made the remarks to reporters as Biden departed the COP27 United Nations climate change summit in Egypt for the annual US-ASEAN summit and East Asia Summit in Cambodia, before attending the G20 gathering in Bali starting on Sunday. 

A reluctance to financially support less wealthy nations could result in a botched implementation of climate action, said Vice President Ma’ruf Amin in his speech at COP27 on Monday.

The report, released ahead of talks on climate change finance at the COP27 summit in Egypt, said the funding was required to cut emissions, boost resilience, deal with damage from climate change and restore nature and land.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo received the Hasan bin Ali International Peace Prize from the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace (ADFP) in Jakarta on Monday in recognition of his role in promoting peace, particularly through Indonesia’s G20 presidency.

The UN's COP27 climate summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh comes as nations worldwide are facing increasingly intense natural disasters that have taken thousands of lives this year alone and cost billions of dollars.

Vice President Ma’ruf Amin is scheduled to attend and deliver Indonesia’s National Statement at COP27 in Egypt, which has been dubbed the “implementation the Conference of the Parties" (COP), although activists are concerned that this year climate summit may be less impactful than last year’s COP26.

Much of the tension surrounding COP27 is expected to relate to loss and damage -- compensation funds provided by wealthy nations to vulnerable lower-income countries that bear little responsibility for climate-warming emissions.

"We are on the brink of a very large victory," a smiling Netanyahu told supporters at his Likud party headquarters, after late-night exit polls predicted his bloc would win a narrow parliamentary majority in the Nov. 1 election, paving the way for his political comeback and a record sixth term in office.

Exit polls showed Netanyahu, Israel's longest serving premier, could clinch a narrow majority and make a comeback with the anticipated backing of ultra-Orthodox Jewish and ascendant far-right parties.

The latest ballot follows the collapse of the so-called "change" coalition, which united eight disparate parties who succeeded in ousting Netanyahu last year after a record run as prime minister, but ultimately failed to bring political stability.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan hailed the "historical and solid relationship" between the major oil exporter and Beijing after talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

Indonesia reaffirmed its undying support for Palestine by pledging more humanitarian assistance and capacity building to establish the country's own food and drug monitoring agency.

A number of senior government ministers including Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan, State Secretary Pratikno and head of Food and Drugs Monitoring Agency (BPOM) Penny Lukito joined President Jokowi during the meeting.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the city's status should be decided by Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, unwinding a contentious decision by the previous conservative government.

Stormy US-Saudi relations have seen new strain over Riyadh's recent support for oil production cuts, with Biden warning of unspecified "consequences."

The Saudi-led OPEC+ cartel -- which includes Russia -- angered Washington by cutting production by two million barrels a day from November, adding further pressure on soaring crude prices.

The 13-nation OPEC cartel and its 10 allies headed by Moscow angered the White House last week with its decision to cut production by two million barrels a day from November, raising fears that oil prices could soar.

The White House pushed hard to prevent the OPEC output cut, these sources said. Biden hopes to keep US gasoline prices from spiking again ahead of midterm elections in which his Democratic party is struggling to maintain control of the US Congress. Washington also wants to limit Russia's energy revenue during the Ukraine war.

The move effectively formalises power already wielded by Prince Muhammad, who has been the kingdom's de facto ruler for several years, analysts said.