Saudi Arabia threatened on Tuesday to expel non-Muslim expatriates who eat, drink, or smoke in public during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Ramadan begins in the kingdom on Wednesday.

Syrians travelling to Egypt are now required to apply for a visa, after the authorities in Cairo issued a new rule amid soaring unrest in the country, consulate staff in Beirut told Agence France Presse on Tuesday.

"There is a decision from Cairo that any Syrian travelling to Egypt must apply for a visa at the Egyptian embassy," a staff member at the Egyptian consulate in Beirut said.

Nelson Mandela remains in a "critical but stable" condition, the South African government said Tuesday, after more than one month of intensive hospital treatment.

President Jacob Zuma thanked members of the public for their prayers and "dignified gatherings outside the hospital" in Pretoria where the 94-year-old apartheid hero was rushed on June 8.

A corruption scandal implicating Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy reignited on Tuesday with the publication of an original handwritten account ledger apparently showing illegal payments to him while he was a minister.

The document published by El Mundo newspaper fanned a scandal that has outraged Spaniards suffering in a recession and had sparked calls for Rajoy to resign earlier this year.

The United States and United Nations condemned on Tuesday the bombing in the Bir al-Abed neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs, voicing their rejection of such violent acts in Lebanon.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly “strongly” condemned the attack, calling on all parties to “exercise calm, constraint and respect for the country's security and stability.”

Greece has raised 1.6 billion euros ($2.1 billion) through the auction of treasury bills, Athens said on Tuesday.

The sale raised an equal amount as the previous auction last month and, crucially, at the same borrowing rate of 4.2 percent, the country's public debt management agency said.

Russia on Tuesday urged "free and fair" elections in Egypt that would stabilize the restive country after the ouster of president Mohammed Morsi and continuing violent protests.

"We support all efforts directed at ending the violence and confrontation" and moving toward "transparent and inclusive ... free and fair elections," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

The tiny Baltic state of Latvia received the green light from its European partners Tuesday to become the 18th member of the eurozone from next year.

In what Latvia's prime minister Valdis Dombrovskis described as a "good day for Latvia and also for Europe," the ECOFIN council -- made up of the economy and finance ministers of the EU's 28 member states -- gave formal approval to the country's euro membership.

A simplified lab can slash the cost of in-vitro fertilization treatment to around 200 euros ($256), offering hope to millions of infertile couples in the developing world, a conference heard on Monday.

The cost would be just 10 to 15 percent of western-style IVF programs, according to the Belgian team behind the project.

Sweltering temperatures and scorching sunshine have killed three people and sent more than 2,500 to hospital across Japan in a week, the government said Tuesday.

The mercury hit 39.1 Celsius (102.4 Fahrenheit) in Yamanashi in the center of the country on Tuesday, while dozens of other spots recorded temperatures of 35 Celsius or more.