Explosions and gunfire rocked a town in Nigeria's restive northeast on Tuesday and prompted a military deployment, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, residents and the army said.

The military said troops had deployed to the town of Gashua, located in Yobe state, where the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram has previously carried out waves of deadly attacks.

The Israeli foreign ministry on Tuesday slammed Turkey for carrying out what it called a "show trial" of four top former Israeli commanders over a deadly 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

"This is not a trial but a show trial and has nothing to do with law and justice," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told Agence France Presse.

Two car bombs shook the Damascus region on Tuesday, a watchdog said, a day after nearly 250 people died in fighting and bombings in Syria's worst violence since last month's failed ceasefire bid.

One car bomb exploded before dawn in the city of Mudamiya near the capital, causing injuries and significant damage, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have asked to buy more than $7.6 billion in U.S. missile defense technology, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

The orders for the Lockheed Martin-made equipment were detailed in documents posted online late Monday by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which said it had notified Congress of the request.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday fired defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov over a corruption scandal, the most dramatic change to the government since he returned to the Kremlin for a third term.

Putin replaced Serdyukov, who had been implementing an unpopular but Kremlin-backed military reform, with Moscow region governor and long-standing ally Sergei Shoigu, his spokesman said.

Israel on Tuesday published tenders for 1,213 new homes in settlement neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, and re-offered tenders for another 72 homes in a West Bank settlement, an Israeli NGO said.

Peace Now, citing tenders published by the Israeli housing ministry, said tenders for 607 units in Pisgat Zeev and 606 units in Ramot, both in east Jerusalem, were offered, along with 72 re-offered in the settlement of Ariel.

Uganda maintained a threat to withdraw troops from international peacekeeping operations after U.N. talks on Monday over accusations that it has backed rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Uganda's Communications and Information Minister Ruhakana Rugunda told AFP his country felt "stabbed in the back" by a U.N. report which said Uganda and Rwanda have helped M23 rebels who are battling DR Congo government forces.

Former Minister Fawzi Hobeish confirmed on Tuesday reports that he and his son al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Hadi Hobeish received death threats.

“Five unknown assailants aboard a BMW X5 model with tainted glass blocked the way off my car near Ghazir junction and asked my driver to convey a message to me and to my son,” Hobeish told the National News Agency.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr arrived in Beirut on Tuesday for a two-day visit to meet with senior Lebanese officials and stress his country's support to the resumption of the national dialogue among the political foes.

He kicked off his visit by meeting with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea in Maarab and later Speaker Nabih Berri and Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun reiterated on Tuesday that the government of Prime Minister Najib Miqati will remain in power “until further notice.”

“It is forbidden to shove the country into a vacuum,” Aoun told As Safir newspaper.