Energy Minister Jebran Bassil revealed that a plan to invest in Lebanon’s water wealth has been reached in cooperation with several local and international powers, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

He told the newspaper: “The long-term strategic and national plan extends until 2035 at a cost of USD 9 billion.”

Israeli air strikes on Gaza killed 15 Palestinians, including a militant group chief, medics said on Saturday, in the deadliest 24 hours in the border area in more than three years.

A Palestinian riding a motorcycle was killed and two others were wounded in an Israeli air raid close to the southern town of Rafah near the border with Egypt on Saturday afternoon, Palestinian medics said.

President Barack Obama Friday called Russia's president-elect Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his election win, despite earlier U.S. concern over reported vote irregularities.

The call inaugurated a relationship that will decide the fate of "reset" U.S. relations with the Kremlin which the White House sees as a key foreign policy achievement headed into Obama's reelection campaign.

Around 100 protesters calling for an end to military rule in Egypt clashed with soldiers near the U.S. embassy in Cairo, an Agence France Presse correspondent reported.

Shouting "Down with military power!" the protesters lobbed stones at the soldiers, who responded by throwing them back and trying to disperse the crowd.

South Sudan accused former foe Sudan on Friday of holding 35,000 Southerners as "slaves," stalling talks to resolve to furious oil dispute as tensions remain high between the two neighbors.

"There is unfortunately a disagreement, because the government of Sudan refused the inclusion of the freedom of about 35,000 South Sudanese enslaved citizens," South Sudan's chief negotiator Pagan Amum told Agence France Presse.

Tens of thousands of Bahrainis flooded the streets of the capital Manama on Friday demanding political reforms, a year after authorities crushed an uprising, an activist said.

Policemen fired tear gas at a group of protesters but the rallies were largely peaceful and no one was arrested, said Nabil Rajab, an activist who heads the Bahraini Center for Human Rights.

The Maronite Church has expressed its satisfaction with the Mustaqbal Movement’s political document on the Arab Spring, saying that it sets the foundation for ties between various Lebanese sects, reported the Central News Agency on Friday.

This development was marked by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi contacting Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Fouad Saniora to discuss the document.

U.N. humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos said on Friday that Syria had agreed to allow a preliminary assessment of the relief needs in areas hard hit by the year-old conflict.

Amos, who has toured the battered city of Homs and refugee camps in Turkey this week, also said Damascus must allow aid groups "unhindered access to evacuate the wounded and deliver desperately needed supplies".

Investigators probing violations during Libya's conflict said Friday they are giving the U.N.'s human rights chief a list of people who should face international or national justice.

The commission of inquiry also called for further probes into NATO air strikes on Libya, saying it was unable to tell if the alliance took adequate precautions to protect civilians in some of its attacks.

Saudi Arabia must "release immediately and unconditionally six Saudis" held for nearly a year in connection with a protest that only one of them attended, Amnesty International said on Friday.

The London-based rights group said five of the men were being held without trial in connection with Saudi Arabia's "Day of Rage" protest which was planned for March 11, 2011.