World trade ministers were locked in disagreement on fisheries subsidies, agriculture and digital customs duties as a major WTO conference was extended beyond its scheduled deadline and into Friday.

With no signs of a breakthrough on Thursday at the World Trade Organization's 13th ministerial conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi, officials pushed back the formal closing session to 2:00 pm (1000 GMT) the following day.

"These negotiations are a bit like a roller coaster," said a source close to the talks.

In the green hills of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights near Lebanon, Arye and Ditza Alon are hiking through a tranquil nature reserve, wondering whether the wider region could become a war zone.

While mediators hope for a truce soon in the Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza to the south, fears are growing that months of cross-border clashes in the north could escalate into a bigger conflict.

"It's a big question," said Ditza, pondering whether Israel should fight another major war against Lebanon's armed movement Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.

Israel's planned ground assault on Rafah in the Gaza Strip would contravene the orders issued by the United Nations' highest court, the UN human rights chief said on Thursday.

On January 26, the International Court of Justice in The Hague -- while stopping short of ordering an immediate halt to the war in Gaza -- said Israel must "prevent the commission of all acts within the scope" of the Genocide Convention.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has called for members of the ultra-Orthodox community to be required to perform military service like other Israeli Jews as the Gaza war rages on.

"We must all bear the burden," Gallant said, addressing what has long been a divisive political issue in a country with mandatory military service for most citizens.

Since Israel was founded in 1948, Jewish men who study the Torah full-time in a seminary are granted an annual deferment from military service until the age of 26, at which point they become exempt.

Democracy faced sharp, widespread setbacks worldwide in 2023 with violence and manipulation marring a series of elections, Freedom House said Thursday.

In its annual report, the US-funded pro-democracy advocacy and research group switched classifications for two countries, downgrading Ecuador from free to partly free and upgrading Thailand from not free to partly free.

Israel has "more or less accepted" a proposal for a six-week ceasefire in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a US official said Saturday as Palestinian negotiators were expected in Cairo.

Mediators have been scrambling to lock in a truce before Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month which begins on March 10 or 11, eyeing an end to the almost five-month conflict that has ravaged Hamas-ruled Gaza.

In a sign of the dire humanitarian conditions as violence rages on, the besieged territory's health ministry reported more than a dozen child malnutrition deaths in recent days.

The United States on Wednesday urged Israel to allow Muslims to worship at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem during Ramadan, after a far-right minister proposed barring Palestinians from the occupied West Bank from praying there.

"As it pertains to Al-Aqsa, we continue to urge Israel to facilitate access to Temple Mount for peaceful worshippers during Ramadan consistent with past practice," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters, using the Jewish term for the site, the holiest in Judaism.

A rare reformist woman standing in Iran's legislative elections on Friday, Afifeh Abedi hopes to bolster women's place in society and add a fresh voice in a parliament dominated by male conservatives.

Women "are very active in society but hold a very small share of the power," said the 44-year-old candidate ahead of a campaign event at a mosque in southern Tehran.

"It's men who make the decisions, even when they concern women."

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) on Wednesday announced a "multi-year strategic partnership" with the ATP, the governing body of men's tennis, extending the kingdom's influence on international sport.

In a joint statement, the two bodies said that the partnership marked "a significant shared commitment to enhancing global tennis".

Since 2021, PIF has invested heavily in a number of major sports industries including setting up the LIV golf tour, a rival to the PGA, and purchasing English Premier League club Newcastle United.

Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki said Wednesday he believes Hamas understands why it should not be part of a new government in the Palestinian territories.

Maliki told a press conference that a "technocratic" government was needed, without the Islamist group which is fighting a bitter war against Israel.

"The time now is not for a national coalition government," Maliki said.