Al-Qaida said Thursday that Harith al-Nadhari, a senior figure who threatened more attacks on France after last month's Charlie Hebdo killings, had died in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen.

Nadhari and three other militants were killed in a January 31 "crusader American drone strike against their car" in the southern Shabwa province, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula said on Twitter.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande flew to Kiev Thursday with a new peace plan, in the biggest diplomatic push yet to halt an upsurge in deadly fighting in eastern Ukraine.

The two European leaders, who will present the plan to Russia Friday, arrived hot on the heels of US Secretary of State John Kerry, who said that Moscow held the cards to end the conflict.

The director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency has warned that al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front could expand the territories it is holding in Syria to reach Lebanon.

“As part of the larger al-Qaida network, we are concerned about the support al-Nusra Front provides to transnational terrorist attack plotting against U.S. and Western interests,” Lt. Gen. Vincent R. Stewart told the Congress on Tuesday.

Texas put to death Wednesday the convicted killer of a policeman who was also a member of the infamous "Texas Seven" gang that staged a notorious prison breakout, authorities said.

Donald Newbury, 52, was executed by lethal injection soon after the US Supreme Court -- which had delayed it twice -- gave the green light. 

The United States condemned life sentences meted out Wednesday to more than 200 Egyptian activists over the 2011 revolt against former president Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt is a key ally of the U.S. in counter-terrorism operations in the Sinai, but Washington has been caught in a dilemma on how to maintain ties while not appearing to sanction the rolling back of democracy.

The United Arab Emirates withdrew from air strike missions against the Islamic State group in Syria after the capture of a Jordanian pilot, who has since been murdered by the jihadists, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The UAE pulled out of the flights soon after the pilot fell into IS hands in December, a U.S. official told AFP.

U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden will huddle with leaders from Germany and Ukraine on an upcoming visit to Europe, as allies plot a response to increased violence in Ukraine.

Biden later this week will travel to Belgium and Germany, where he will attend a high-profile security conference in Munich.

Freed from her "bad dream" of three months in prison, Saudi activist Suad al-Shammari, an associate of detained blogger Raef Badawi, sees hope in the ascent to the throne of new King Salman.

But there is no immediate chance that Badawi or his detained lawyer Waleed Abulkhair can benefit from a prisoner amnesty announced by Salman, whose reign commenced on January 23 following the death of King Abdullah, Shammari said.

A 19-year-old American student who disappeared over the weekend while skiing in the Swiss Alps was rescued Tuesday, alive but suffering from hypothermia, police said Tuesday.

After searching for more than 48 hours, rescuers finally found the U.S. teen, who went missing while skiing off-piste Sunday near the Diablerets resort in southern Switzerland, police in the canton of Vaud said in a statement.

China expressed concern about the possible deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defence system in South Korea during talks Wednesday between their defence chiefs, Seoul military officials said.

Washington is considering whether to instal the politically sensitive THAAD (Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense) system in the South, a close U.S. ally which hosts 29,000 American troops.