A group of European ambassadors flew into Libya's capital Thursday for the first time since 2014 to support the unity government's struggle to end years of chaos exploited by jihadists.

French ambassador Antoine Sivan, Peter Millett of Britain and Spain's Jose Antonio Bordallo held talks with the Government of National Accord (GNA) at the Tripoli naval base where it has set up operations.

The Greek army on Thursday staged a double military exercise on its border with Macedonia and an island cluster near Turkey, officials said, amid tension with Skopje over the refugee crisis.

"Emergency maneuvers have been ordered in Kilkis (in northern Greece) and Oinousses (in the eastern Aegean)," an army general staff source told AFP.

Islamic State group jihadists have seized a string of opposition-held villages in Syria's Aleppo province near the Turkish border, a monitoring group said Thursday.

Areas around Aleppo have seen a spike in violence on several fronts in recent days, sparking concern over a fragile six-week truce as a new round of peace talks gets under way in Geneva.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday urged dozens of Muslim leaders gathered for a summit in Istanbul to end sectarian divisions in the Islamic world and join forces to fight terror.

Turkey is seeking to showcase its influence among the world's estimated 1.7 billion Muslims, particularly in lands once controlled by the Ottoman Empire, at the two-day summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which it will chair for the next two years.

He may have once conquered the world of snooker but when Joe Johnson sat down to watch his video of his 1986 Crucible final triumph he was confronted with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe instead.

Johnson won the 1986 world snooker championship as a 150-1 outsider, beating then world number 1 Steve Davis 18-12 in the final.

Myanmar appeared to have escaped with only minor damage to buildings after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that rattled its remote north, police said Thursday, as early reports said there not had been any casualties.

The quake, which struck late Wednesday more than 130 kilometers (80 miles) below the surface, was felt from China to Bangladesh, where scores of people were injured in stampedes as panic spread.

Russia denied Thursday its fighter jets were engaged in reckless or provocative behavior when they flew just meters from a U.S. destroyer in international waters in the Baltic Sea, exacerbating tensions between the rival powers.

The aircraft repeatedly buzzed the USS Donald Cook this week, including an incident on Tuesday when a Russian Su-24 jet flew 30 feet (nine meters) above the ship in a "simulated attack profile," the U.S. military's European Command said.

Israeli forces raided a money changer in the Palestinian political capital Ramallah early on Thursday, blowing up a safe and sparking a fire, which led to minor clashes, the army and witnesses said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the pre-dawn raid was to "confiscate terror funds" held in the shop in the occupied West Bank.

The U.S. said Thursday it has launched South China Sea patrols with the Philippines and will temporarily deploy 275 troops and five warplanes in the country, escalating its presence amid a territorial dispute with China.

"In the South China Sea, China's actions in particular are causing anxiety and raising regional tensions," Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said during a visit to Manila.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition agreed Thursday on sweeping measures to spur the integration of migrants and refugees in a "historic" first for a country that long resisted embracing immigration.

The deal, hammered out in seven hours of late-night talks between Merkel's conservative Christian Union bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD), also included plans for new anti-terror legislation.