Qatar is battling to host a peace meeting between the presidents of rivals DR Congo and Rwanda, even though a summit this week was called off amid rising tensions, diplomats say.

With a rebellion in eastern DR Congo already complicating relations, Rwandan forces this week opened fire at a Congolese fighter jet that they said had violated Rwandan airspace.

Qatar had planned a meeting of Rwanda's Paul Kagame and DR Congo's Felix Tshisekedi on Monday and a deal to ease tensions was ready, but Tshisekedi refused to attend, diplomats said.

Egypt unveiled Thursday a gold-laced mummy and four tombs, including of an ancient king's "secret keeper", discovered in the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo.

The vast burial site at the ancient Egyptian capital Memphis, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is home to more than a dozen pyramids, animal graves and old Coptic Christian monasteries.

Archaeologist Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former antiquities minister, announced the latest discovery, dating from the fifth and sixth dynasties -- around the 25th to the 22nd centuries BC -- to reporters at the dig site.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel next week to Israel, the West Bank and Egypt where he will urge an end to violence after a deadly Israeli raid, the State Department said Thursday.

Blinken will hold his first in-person talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since the veteran leader returned to power a month ago as head of Israel's most right-wing government in history.

He will also meet in Ramallah with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on his visit Monday and Tuesday.

Families of the victims of the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion rallied Thursday to support the judge who has resumed work on the politically-charged case in a daring challenge to Lebanon's entrenched ruling elite.

Experts have warned that the battle between investigative judge Tarek Bitar and top prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat, who has charged him with insubordination, will be a critical test for the faltering justice system of the crisis-hit Mediterranean nation.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited neighbouring Sudan on Thursday for meetings with army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, his first visit to Khartoum since a 2021 military coup.

Relations between Khartoum and Addis Ababa have been fraught with tensions in recent years, including over a border dispute and refugees from the two-year conflict in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region.

Sudan's ruling sovereign council said in a statement that Burhan and Abiy held talks on "ways to strengthen and enhance bilateral relations".

Families of victims killed in the 2020 Beirut explosion rallied Thursday to support the judge investigating the disaster, after he was charged by Lebanon's top prosecutor in the highly politically case.

Security was tight at the palace of justice in Beirut, where dozens of family members of the victims gathered "to support the investigation" led by investigative judge Tarek Bitar.

A Palestinian gunman killed seven people outside an east Jerusalem synagogue during the Jewish Sabbath on Friday, in one of the deadliest attacks targeting Israelis in years that risked sparking widespread violence.

The shooting came a day after a major escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including an army raid in the occupied West Bank that killed nine people, rocket fire from Gaza and retaliatory Israeli strikes.

Israeli soldier Nathan Saada is busy at his computer on an army base in Tel Aviv, where he is part of a specialised programme designed for military personnel with autism.

Around 200 people with high-functioning autism have joined the ranks since the scheme -- Titkadmu (Move Forwards) -- was launched in July 2021.

"I wanted to enlist because, in Israel, military service is important. It's something that each young person must do, and I also wanted to have this experience," said Saada, wearing a Titkadmu badge proudly on his khaki uniform.

Emirati astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi said Wednesday that he will not be required to fast during Ramadan while on his upcoming space mission.

The 41-year-old will become the first Arab astronaut to spend six months in space when he blasts off for the International Space Station (ISS) next month aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Neyadi, NASA's Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg and Russia's Andrey Fedyaev are scheduled to fly to the ISS on February 26 as members of SpaceX Dragon Crew-6.

Hundreds of employees of Israel's public broadcaster protested Wednesday in Tel Aviv against a minister's threat to cut funding to its radio and television services, an AFP correspondent said.

"We are all KAN," read placards at the demonstration, referring to the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (KAN), as employees were joined at a Tel Aviv theatre by Lior Raz, star of the hit Israeli Netflix series "Fauda".

Israel's new Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi warned earlier this month of potentially hefty budget cuts to KAN.