Human rights groups on Thursday criticized the United Arab Emirates' trial of five activists accused of insulting top officials as "grossly unfair."

The trial of the five accused of "publicly insulting" the officials "has been grossly unfair, and the case against them has no basis in international law as it violates their freedom of expression," said a statement by a coalition of international human rights organizations.

A member of Yemen's consultative council and an army colonel were wounded on Thursday when their car was fired on by presumed al-Qaida militants, tribal sources said.

"Militants, suspected of belonging to al-Qaida, opened fire with a barrage of bullets at the car of Mohammed al-Haithami Ashal as he was heading towards Sanaa, wounding him in the leg," said a source from the Ashal tribe.

The elderly father of the second in command of Bahrain's largest Shiite opposition group Al-Wefaq died of his injuries on Thursday after riot police attacked him a day earlier, the organization said.

"Ali Hassan al-Dehi, 70, was attacked by riot police forces Wednesday evening" and died early Thursday, Al-Wefaq's website reported.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged Syria on Thursday to implement "fully and rapidly" an Arab League plan to end months of bloodshed.

"I welcome the efforts of the Arab League to end violence and bring about the reforms that the Syrian people have bravely demanded these last seven months," she said in a statement.

Following is a list of successive promises made by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad towards introducing reforms and ending the opposition protest movement.

March 2011: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in his first public statement since the start of protests on March 15, says Syria is facing a "conspiracy."

The Arab League plan accepted by Damascus to end the bloodshed in Syria is a life raft for President Bashar al-Assad's regime as it sets no real deadlines and stipulates no implementation mechanisms, analysts say.

"The Arab countries are trying to save one of their pillars from falling, and it's not clear that they seek to save the Syrian people," said London-based analyst Abdul Wahab Badrkhan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday ordered a halt to Israel's financial contributions to UNESCO after the U.N. cultural organization granted the Palestinians full membership.

Netanyahu "ordered that Israel's $2 million-per-annum participation in the budget of UNESCO be frozen, following the organization’s decision to accept the Palestinian Authority into its ranks," the premier's office said.

Kuwaiti opposition MPs said on Thursday they have decided to quiz the interior minister after two youth activists were questioned and harassed for remarks on their Twitter accounts.

"The (Islamic) Reform and Development Bloc has decided to grill the interior minister over the harassment of tweeters," spokesman MP Faisal al-Muslim told reporters.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi met Syrian opposition figures Thursday, a day after Damascus agreed to open talks with dissidents, a member of the Syrian National Council said.

Arabi "briefed us on the details of the Arab League initiative and its goals ... aimed at finding an Arab solution to the Syrian crisis based on the need to stop the bloodshed in Syria," said Samir al-Nashar, a member of the executive bureau of the SNC.

Two Palestinians were killed and one was wounded on Thursday in an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the Hamas emergency services said.

The Israeli military confirmed the strike in a statement that said the air force had targeted a "terrorist squad" which had opened fire on troops in an area near Gaza's northern border with Israel.