Israel’s president said on Tuesday that no party leader has enough support to form a governing majority but handed that job to embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid his corruption trial, AP reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was back in court for his corruption trial on Monday as the country’s political parties were set to weigh in on whether he should form the next government after a closely divided election or step down to focus on his legal woes.

Iran and the major world powers participating in the agreement to keep Tehran from developing nuclear weapons said Friday they were ready to welcome the return of the US to the deal, the AP reported.

Iran will not stop its 20% uranium enrichment before the United States lifts all sanctions, Iranian state TV quoted an unnamed official as saying on Tuesday, after a US media report said Washington would offer a new proposal to jump-start talks.

Libya's new unity government on Thursday demanded the "immediate" withdrawal of all foreign mercenaries ahead of year-end elections, in a call backed by the visiting top diplomats of France, Germany and Italy.

The elections held in Israel on Tuesday will produce a deadlock, according to the results, which are still to be finalized. Vote tallying so far shows that neither PM Benjamin Netanyahu nor those determined to topple him manage to gain a clear path to forming a government, AP reported. A final tally is expected by Friday.

France will reopen its embassy in Libya’s capital Tripoli next week in a gesture of support to the conflict-ravaged country’s interim government, President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday, AP reported. He said that France owes “a debt to Libya and the Libyans, which is a decade of disorder.”

Israeli parliamentary elections on Tuesday resulted in a virtual deadlock for a fourth time in the past two years, exit polls indicated, leaving PM Benjamin Netanyahu with an uncertain future and the country facing the prospect of continued political gridlock, AP reported.

The Middle East quartet of mediators - the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - discussed on Tuesday reviving “meaningful negotiations” between Israel and the Palestinians with the aim of a two-state solution.

Israelis began voting on Tuesday on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political survival in a fourth election in two years, with the veteran leader hoping his role in a rapid Covid-19 vaccine campaign will win him another term, Reuters reported. Opinion polls show the race too close to call.