The European Union on Wednesday readied new sanctions on Iran over its supply of drones to Russia as the UN Security Council met on the unmanned attacks that have caused destruction in Ukraine.

The United States, France and Britain requested the closed-door Security Council discussion to voice alarm over the drone shipments, which Western officials say violate a UN resolution, although Russia holds veto power to block any new sanctions bid.

A Palestinian on the run after perpetrating a deadly attack against Israeli forces was killed Wednesday in the occupied West Bank after he shot at Israelis on the edge of a settlement, officials said.

The alleged attacker, identified by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid as Udai Tamimi, had been sought by Israeli security forces since the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old Israeli soldier earlier this month at a checkpoint at the entrance to the Shuafat refugee camp in east Jerusalem.

Kyiv accused Russia of planning to destroy a hydroelectric dam in the eastern Kherson region, where Ukrainian soldiers have been steadily advancing and Moscow-installed authorities have begun evacuations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces had mined the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant with the intent of blowing it up, in what would amount to a "catastrophe on a grand scale".

At least 15 people have been killed in the latest outbreak of ethnic clashes after land disputes in Sudan's southern Blue Nile state, local leaders and medical sources said Wednesday.

Fighting broke out last week after reported arguments over land between members of the Hausa people and rival groups in Wad al-Mahi, near Roseires in Sudan's troubled southern region, some 500 kilometres (310 miles) south of the capital Khartoum.

On Wednesday, fresh fighting erupted, with residents reporting intense gunfire and homes torched.

Russia on Wednesday warned the United Nations not to probe alleged strikes by Iranian-made drones in Ukraine, joining Tehran in denying the weapons' origin as the European Union prepared new sanctions.

The United States, France and Britain called a closed-door Security Council meeting on the alleged sale of drones to Russia, which they described as a violation of UN arms restrictions on Iran.

When Islamic State group fighters bulldozed the ancient monumental Mashki gate in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2016, it was part of the extremists' systematic destruction of cultural heritage.

Now, US and Iraqi archaeologists working to reconstruct the site have unearthed extraordinary 2,700-year-old rock carvings among the ruins.

They include eight finely made marble bas-relief carvings depicting war scenes from the rule of the Assyrian kings in the ancient city of Nineveh, a local Iraqi official said Wednesday.

Qatar became the first Middle Eastern country Wednesday to receive Chinese giant pandas -- Suhail and Soraya -- who, in true Gulf fashion, took up residence in luxury air-conditioned quarters.

Crowds of children and reporters watched as the four-year-old male and three-year-old female took their first steps in a temporary enclosure in a ceremony at the Al Khor park about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Doha.

Palestinian movement Hamas on Wednesday said it restored relations with the Syrian government after a visiting delegation held a "historic meeting" with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.

The Islamist group, which controls the Gaza Strip, was long one of Syria's closest allies, in large part due to a shared enmity towards Israel.

But it left Syria in 2012 after condemning the Assad government's brutal suppression of protests in March 2011, which triggered the country's descent into civil war.

After a bitter split from her footballer ex Gerard Pique, Colombian superstar Shakira is back with a vengeance.

First she released a diss track that nearly broke YouTube and on Monday she struck a deal with Spanish authorities to avoid the embarrassment of a tax fraud trial related to her years in Barcelona with Pique.

The legal woes of the woman dubbed the queen of Latin music since her 2005 smash hit "Hips Don't Lie" are not yet at an end, with a second Spanish investigation into alleged tax evasion still hanging over her.

A US citizen jailed in Saudi Arabia is being punished for "mild" Twitter posts on topics including the war in Yemen and the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, his son told AFP on Wednesday.

Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old of Saudi origin, was this month sentenced to 16 years in prison, the latest in a spate of what human rights groups describe as draconian sentences for social media criticism of the government.