The United States has hinted that more Arab nations could take steps to improve ties with Israel, ahead of President Joe Biden's arrival in Saudi Arabia on Friday.

All eyes are on the kingdom, where Biden is to land despite a previous vow to treat the kingdom as a "pariah" over the 2018 murder and dismemberment of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Yet despite the recent signs of a US-Saudi rapprochement, analysts say it is improbable Riyadh will agree to diplomatic ties with Israel -- not during Biden's visit or while King Salman, 86, still reigns.

Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs from top economies met in Indonesia Friday for talks on the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with the host warning them failure to tackle energy and food crises would be catastrophic.

The two-day meeting on the resort island of Bali started under the shadow of a war that has roiled markets, spiked food prices and stoked breakneck inflation, a week after Moscow's top diplomat walked out of talks with the forum's foreign ministers.

US President Joe Biden met Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank on Friday for talks expected to focus on economic measures without striking any major diplomatic breakthrough.

His arrival in Bethlehem comes ahead of a visit to Saudi Arabia, whose leaders on Friday changed aviation rules in an apparent gesture of openness towards Israel.

Riyadh paved the way for Israeli planes to use its airspace by announcing it was lifting restrictions on "all carriers", a move welcomed by Biden as "historic".

Saudi Arabia announced Friday it was lifting restrictions on "all carriers" using its airspace, an apparent gesture of openness towards Israel hours before US President Joe Biden's arrival.

The US leader welcomed the "historic" decision, the latest conciliatory move by Riyadh concerning the Jewish state, which it has refused to recognise despite intensive efforts by the Israelis to establish ties with Arab countries.

US President Joe Biden held joint investment talks Thursday with Israel, India and the United Arab Emirates, as Washington seeks to counter the global reach of China.

The multilateral summit was convened in Jerusalem where Biden is on his first Middle East tour as president, with leaders from India and the UAE joining remotely.

During the summit the UAE announced it would invest 2 million euros (dollars) in agricultural projects in India, which will supply the land.

Private firms from Israel and the US will be invited to also finance the scheme.

Libya's government replaced the head of the key National Oil Corporation on Thursday in a dramatic move that prompted the United States to warn against any "armed confrontation" over the sector.

The North African country's vast oil reserves have often been at the heart of political disputes, but the NOC had largely stayed neutral despite years of division since the 2011 toppling of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed rebellion.

A US firm targeted in a $250 million lawsuit over the 2020 port explosion in Beirut that killed more than 200 people has denied any wrongdoing in the tragedy.

TGS, a US-Norwegian geophysical services group, said it is aware of the suit filed this week in a Texas court by nine plaintiffs who are all US citizens, but said it has not yet been formally served with the papers.

"We deny each and every allegation raised in the lawsuit, and intend to vigorously defend this matter in court," TGS said in a statement issued late Wednesday.

Fires burning for days at Beirut's port, severely damaged in 2020 by an enormous explosion, have reignited trauma among Lebanese gearing up to mark the deadly blast's anniversary.

On August 4, Lebanon will mark two years since the explosion that killed more than 200 people. It was caused by a stockpile of haphazardly stored ammonium nitrate fertiliser catching fire.

Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

- Strike kills 20, Zelensky slams 'act of terrorism' -

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lashes out at Russia for carrying out missile strikes that kill at least 20 people, including three children, on Vinnytsia in the centre of the country.

"Every day, Russia kills civilians, kills Ukrainian children, carries out missile attack on civilian facilities where there is no military target. What is this if not an open act of terrorism?" he says.

Israeli journalist Yoav Limor did not know what to expect when he travelled with a colleague this month to Saudi Arabia, a country long notorious for promoting anti-Israel sentiment in textbooks and in sermons by some imams.

They were in for "a pleasant surprise", he wrote in a subsequent column for the Israel Hayom newspaper, as Saudi market vendors and taxi drivers mostly greeted them with curiosity rather than disdain.