U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for a "working dinner" expected to touch on the conflict in Syria, the U.N. announced Wednesday.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said the two will dine together on Thursday and "one could anticipate discussions on the main topics of the day and Syria is plainly one."

The war in Syria poses the greatest threat to U.S. security because of the risk of the government falling and the country becoming a weapons-rich haven for al-Qaida, a CIA official says.

CIA second-in-command Michael Morell gave the assessment in an interview published Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal as he prepares to retire after 33 years with the agency.

Violence killed seven people on Wednesday, including three policemen and a young girl, officials said, as authorities struggle to contain the worst violence to hit Iraq since 2008.

The attacks are the latest in a wave of unrest that has made the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan the bloodiest in years, with more than 800 people killed nationwide.

The top U.S. military officer is going to Israel and Jordan next week for a visit focused in part on Iran and the war in Syria, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will meet in Israel with his counterpart Benny Gantz to discuss advances in Iran's nuclear program, which Israel regards as an "existential threat."

A coordinated spate of bombings across Baghdad capped Iraq's bloodiest Ramadan in years, with more than 800 people killed in spiraling violence that a paralyzed government has failed to stem.

Experts say things could get even worse, as political deadlock with no end in sight feeds a worsening security situation in a country only a few years removed from a sectarian war in which tens of thousands of people died.

Tunisia's ruling Islamist Ennahda party said Wednesday it accepted the suspension of the North African country's National Constituent Assembly and urged talks with its rivals on a national unity government.

"Despite our formal and legal reservations about this initiative, we hope it will serve as a catalyst for political adversaries to sit down at the negotiating table," a party statement said.

As civil war raged and the economy was in paralysis, Syria's government has approved a draft anti-corruption law, state news agency SANA said on Wednesday.

A bill on "illicit gains" was approved as part of "the government's policy to fight corruption" and because of "the dangerous character of crimes" linked to corruption, said SANA.

The Syrian government has doled out more than $500 million in oil subsidies over the past six months as its economy is devastated by war, the oil minister said on Wednesday.

Sleiman Abbas said the government has given out more than 12 billion Syrian pounds ($560 million) in subsidies to the oil sector in the first half of 2013, or nine percent of the state budget.

A Tripoli court on Wednesday ordered the prosecution in the trial of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's last premier, accused of murder and corruption, to produce documents as sought by the defense.

"The prosecution must produce the items, audio recordings and pictures" seized from the offices of the former prime minister, Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmudi, said the judge, Saddok Taeib, before the trial was adjourned to October 9.

Egypt's military on Wednesday said it had killed 60 "terrorists" in Sinai in the month after Mohammed Morsi's ouster on July 3, which fueled militant attacks in the restive peninsula.

The military "killed 60 individuals", according to a bullet-point video it released, titled "Losses of terrorist elements in exchanges of fire with security forces".