Jury selection began on Tuesday in the trial of an alleged member of the notorious Islamic State (IS) kidnap-and-murder cell known as the "Beatles."
El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, is accused of involvement in the murders of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and relief workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.
US District Judge T.S. Ellis has said he expects jury selection to last one day with opening arguments beginning on Wednesday.
Volatility on oil markets sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine would be worse without OPEC+, the Saudi energy minister said on Tuesday, insisting the alliance that includes Russia deserves credit.
Oil shot up to nearly $140 on supply fears after Russia sent troops into its neighbour on February 24, and the price of crude is still trading at well over $100 a barrel.
"I certainly believe that if it wasn't for OPEC+ existing, we would not be celebrating a sustainable energy market... even with today's volatility," Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said.
Expanding nature reserves to cover at least 30 percent of the planet by 2030 is the flagship proposal of high-stakes talks to rescue Earth's animals and plants from human destruction.
But experts agree that a new target is the easy part and will be ineffective without funding and rigorous monitoring.
Negotiators, who wrapped up talks in Geneva on Tuesday, are working on a draft text of the so-called global biodiversity framework to be adopted at the UN COP15 meeting in Kunming, China, later this year.
Lebanon is grappling with an education "emergency," a United Nations official said, as years of economic collapse weigh heavily on students and teachers.
"We are now in an emergency situation. Education in Lebanon is in crisis because the country is living in crisis," Maysoun Chehab of the UN education and culture body (UNESCO) told AFP.
She spoke on the sidelines of an event Monday celebrating the completion of a $35-million UNESCO project to rehabilitate 280 education centres damaged by a 2020 blast.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday visited Morocco, where he discussed regional security and met the United Arab Emirates' de facto leader Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
His trip comes in the shadow of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which along with sanctions against Moscow has sent wheat and fuel prices soaring in a serious blow to import-dependent North African countries.
Speaking to journalists in Rabat, Blinken said the US recognised the "disaster" the supply crunch had caused.
Jury selection begins on Tuesday in the trial of an alleged member of the notorious Islamic State (IS) kidnap-and-murder cell known as the "Beatles."
El Shafee Elsheikh is accused of involvement in the murders of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and relief workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.
Elsheikh, 33, and another former British national, Alexanda Amon Kotey, 37, were captured in January 2018 by Kurdish forces in Syria while trying to escape to Turkey.
Hundreds of people attended the funerals Monday of two 19-year-old Israeli police officers killed in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group, with police announcing five arrests so far.
The officers were shot dead on Sunday in the northern Israeli city of Hadera as Israel hosted a landmark meeting of top US and Arab diplomats. The assailants were killed by officers who arrived at the scene.
Five people were also wounded when the gunmen opened fire at the police and passers-by in Hadera -- the second attack since Tuesday linked to the jihadist group.
The United Arab Emirates on Monday urged Western countries to be "reasonable" in their expectations, underlining its commitment to the global OPEC+ energy alliance.
The grouping of the 13 members of the Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their 10 allies, including Russia, is an "alliance to stay".
"We always believe that whatever we do as countries, when it comes to production and this work, it needs always to stay out of politics," said UAE's Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei during an energy forum in Dubai.
Jordan's King Abdullah II met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah on Monday, in his first trip to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since 2017, Abbas's office said.
Abdullah's visit came as foreign ministers from four Arab countries and the US wrapped up a meeting which host Israel hailed as "historic", following a series of normalisation agreements last year which angered the Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has tested positive for Covid-19, his office said Monday, after he met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Bennett, who met Blinken in Jerusalem on Sunday on the sidelines of a "historic summit" of Israeli and Arab diplomats, "is feeling well and will continue his schedule as planned from his home," a statement from his office said.
Also on Sunday Bennett visited the northern Israeli city of Hadera after gunmen shot dead two police officers in an attack claimed by the jihadist Islamic State group.
