Bahrain's foreign ministry said Monday that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Tom Malinowski, is "unwelcome" in the Sunni-ruled kingdom and should "leave immediately."

The ministry accused Malinowski of "meddling in Bahrain's internal affairs" by meeting "with a particular party to the detriment of other interlocutors," in an apparent reference to the Shiite-led opposition, according to a statement carried by BNA state news agency.

The involvement of Jewish extremists in the brutal murder of a Palestinian teenager has forced Israel to confront the growing danger of violently anti-Arab narrative peddled by the far-right fringe. 

"The diabolical murder of 16-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khder is the Shin Bet's nightmare scenario," wrote Yossi Melman in Maariv newspaper, referring to Israel's internal security agency.

Iranian journalist Marzieh Rasouli said on Monday that she has been sentenced to two years in Tehran's notorious Evin prison and 50 lashes for publishing anti-regime propaganda.

Rasouli, respected for her work as an arts and culture reporter for leading reformist media outlets, including the Shargh and Etemaad dailies, was detained in January 2012 as part of a crackdown.

Iraq's Kurds would face enormous challenges if they were to secede, but the threat of an independence vote amid chaos nationwide could squeeze concessions from the federal government, experts say.

Their autonomous three-province northern region expanded its control over a swathe of territory that Baghdad also claims when Kurdish peshmerga fighters moved in last month to areas from which Iraqi soldiers withdrew during a sweeping Sunni militant onslaught.

Two European engineers kidnapped in Libya at the weekend have been freed, while Rome is working for the release of their Italian colleague, officials said Monday.

The three men -- Bosnian Petar Matic, Macedonian Miljazin Gafuri and Italian Marco Vallisay -- went missing on Saturday.

A crucial parliament session kickstarting the government formation process was delayed and shelling killed a general on Monday, as solutions to Iraq's worst crisis in years appeared increasingly distant.

The developments highlighted bickering among political leaders despite calls for unity to counter a jihadist-led offensive that has overrun swathes of territory and which the security forces have struggled to repel.

A Kuwaiti court freed prominent opposition leader Mussallam al-Barrak on Monday after police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse a fifth straight night of demonstrations demanding his release.

Judge Ahmad al-Athari said he was releasing Barrak on a bail of 5,000 dinars ($17,800), triggering jubilation among supporters of the former MP in the small, jampacked courtroom.

Shelling west of Baghdad killed the commander of the Iraqi army's 6th division on Monday, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's security spokesman said. 

Staff Major General Najm Abdullah al-Sudani was killed by "hostile shelling" west of the Iraqi capital, Lieutenant General Qassem Atta told Agence France Presse by text message.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Monday ended a 20-month political alliance between his party and the ruling rightwing Likud, although his faction will remain in government.

The decision was announced at a press conference after a bitter dispute between Lieberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the government's handling of intensifying rocket fire by militants in the Gaza Strip. 

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned the independence of Iraq's Kurdish region would be "catastrophic" and cause the Middle East to splinter along ethnic and religious lines, newspapers reported Monday.

A Sunni militant offensive that drove soldiers out of northern Iraq last month has emboldened leaders of the country's three-province Kurdish region to push for an independence referendum.