News You May Have Missed

• Two Sunni mosques in central Iraq were attacked in response to Saudi Arabia's execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. • Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Iran. • The United Arab Emirates downgraded diplomatic ties with Iran and reduced the number of Iranian diplomats allowed in the country. • The United Nations announced that its special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, will visit Saudi Arabia ahead of a visit to Iran to try to ease tensions between the two countries. • Libyan government troops say they have besieged areas controlled by the Ansar al-Sharia militant group in the cities of Benghazi and Darnah. • Islamic State militants resumed shelling near Libya’s Es Sider oil port. • Hezbollah militants targeted an Israeli army patrol with an explosive device in Shebaa Farms, disputed territory near the convergence of the Syrian, Lebanese and Israeli borders. • The newly elected president of Venezuela's National Assembly, Henry Ramos Allup, claimed that security forces prevented him from entering the legislature's administrative building. • At least 17 people were killed and another 32 injured in a suspected arson attack on a public bus in Yinchuan, the capital of the remote Chinese region of Ningxia. • An Asian institution that will perform some similar tasks to the International Monetary Fund is expected to be launched as early as spring this year.