President Barack Obama expressed hope Thursday that talks underway between high-level Russian and U.S. envoys lead to a workable plan to strip Syria of its chemical weapons.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov were to meet in Geneva to discuss Moscow's proposal to destroy Bashar Assad's banned poison gas arsenal.

Ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's massive reorganization of the cabinet, in which he gave key posts to close allies, aims to ensure he has control over his succession next year, analysts and media say.

The reshuffle on Wednesday, the largest since 1990, saw nearly a third of ministers lose their jobs and came after Bouteflika had put a confidante as head of the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) and trimmed the sails of the powerful DRS military intelligence agency.

A Syrian refugee has accused Greek authorities of locking him up for weeks as his wife and two children died in a wildfire on an island where a smuggler had left them.

The family of four was brought to the Greek island of Samos in a smuggler dinghy from the neighboring Turkish coast on July 21, the day a wildfire broke out on the island, the father, Wasim Abounahi, told Greek rights group Diktyo, which has publicized the case.

Jordan needs hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to cope with the mounting number of Syrian refugees, Social Development Minister Reem Abu Hassan said in Paris on Thursday.

There were already more than one million Syrian refugees in Jordan and health and education services were absolutely stretched, Abu Hassan told Agence France Presse.

Destroying Syria's chemical weapons under a Russian plan would be "immensely difficult" and may do little to end the conflict there, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said on Thursday.

Russia and Iran would have to play a role in dismantling the chemical arms stockpiled by the regime of President Bashar Assad in a process that would take years, said experts from the London-based think-tank.

Iran has been emboldened by Washington's decision to hold fire on launching military strikes against its key ally Syria, which has also boosted Tehran's position on its controversial nuclear drive, experts say.

Iran's conservative press trumpeted as a "humiliating blow" the decision by its arch-foe the United States to put on hold plans for a military intervention in Syria following a surprise Russian initiative aimed at defusing the stand-off.

Egypt's interim authorities on Thursday extended a state of emergency in force since mid-August by another two months because of the country's continued insecurity.

President Adly Mansour had initially announced a month-long state of emergency on August 14, at a time when deadly unrest swept Egypt as police dispersed two Islamist protest camps.

The rebel Free Syrian Army categorically rejected Thursday a Russian proposal for placing Syria's chemical arms under international control, and called for regime officials to be brought to justice.

The Syrian National Coalition opposition group also questioned the initiative, calling it a "political manoeuvre aimed at buying time" for the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Up to 8,000 Libyan soldiers are expected to train at two joint US-Bulgarian military bases in Bulgaria as part of post-war efforts to rebuild Libya, Defense Minister Angel Naydenov said Thursday.

Naydenov said he had approved Washington's proposal to train the troops but Bulgaria and the United States still had to work out the details.

President Bashar Assad said Thursday Washington must stop arming rebels and stop threatening military force if it wanted a plan for Syria to hand over chemical weapons to work.

"When we see that the United States truly desires stability in our region and stops threatening and seeking to invade, as well as stops arms supplies to terrorists then we can believe that we can follow through with the necessary processes," he told Russian television, adding that Washington should dispense with the "politics of threats."