The United States plans talks with Saudi Arabia on civilian nuclear cooperation, people familiar with the plans said, in a step that has already set off fierce criticism on Capitol Hill.

With the United States hoping to head off an arms race in response to Iran's nuclear program, officials from President Barack Obama's administration plan to head to Riyadh in the coming week for nuclear talks, the sources said.

Yemen must launch a "credible" transition plan and all sides in the political crisis should reject violence, the EU's chief diplomat said Wednesday after talks with the Yemeni foreign minister.

EU foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton urged the government to work with all parties in Yemen to "immediately take forward" a political transition after six months of anti-government protests.

Riyadh has informed Prime Minister Najib Miqati that he is not welcome in Saudi Arabia, revealed opposition sources to the daily Ad Diyar on Sunday.

They added that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat was charged with relaying this message to the premier.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has appointed his son deputy foreign minister with the rank of minister, the official SPA news agency said on Friday.

"The king appoints Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz as deputy foreign minister with the rank of minister," SPA quoted a royal decree as saying.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Friday that he hoped "misunderstandings" with Saudi Arabia could be resolved after a war of words erupted over its military intervention in Bahrain.

Salehi said that Iran respected the sovereignty of Sunni-ruled Shiite-majority Bahrain and hoped that a national dialogue launched by King Hamad after the March crackdown on Shiite-led protests would bear fruit.

Yemeni Republican Guards shot dead one protester and wounded three in the second-largest city of Taez on Thursday, medics said.

The Guards opened fire as thousands of people protested against the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in central Taez, a flashpoint city south of the capital Sanaa, according to organizers.

Germany is serving as an intermediary in a bid to convince Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stand down amid a popular revolt against his three-decade-long rule, a newspaper report said Thursday.

Germany's daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported in a front-page article that Berlin had sent an envoy to appeal to Saleh to accept a proposal by the Gulf Cooperation Council and head off further bloodshed in the country.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland said Thursday Australia's terror threat level would not change despite an image of Sydney's iconic Opera House appearing in an online magazine linked to al-Qaida.

The landmark building is featured in the latest edition of "Inspire", an English-language site that deals with bomb-making and terrorism.

Police Intelligence chief Col. Wissam al-Hassan could be appointed ambassador to Saudi Arabia to replace Maj. Gen. Marwan Zein, whose mission ends next December, an informed ministerial source told al-Liwaa daily Monday.

The source expected the head of the Internal Security Forces Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi to remain in his post.

Two Omani women were detained for driving in Saudi Arabia, where women are not allowed to take to the wheel, Saudi media reported on Sunday.

Police detained the two women drivers traveling with their families on the road connecting the capital Riyadh to the western city of Taef.