New elections will likely be held on March 17, the speaker of Israel's parliament said Wednesday, a day after the Prime Minister sacked two senior members of his coalition Cabinetfor criticizing government policy.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also called for Parliament to be dissolved, with lawmakers expected to vote on that shortly.

Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein told reporters the party heads were informing their members of the proposed election date and that there would then be an official announcement.

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Hong Kong's teenage protest leader Joshua Wong has begun a hunger strike with two members of his youth activist group Scholarism in his latest attempt to secure talks with the government to demand democracy.

"I know it is really harmful to my body, however it is the only way to give pressure to the government to get a meeting with us," Wong told CNN.

"If the government can have a proper meeting with Scholarism to discuss whether political reform will be launched immediately, we will stop the hunger strike."

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The U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS in Syria has stepped up its attacks on the militant Islamist group's de facto capital, with 30 airstrikes targeting Raqqa overnight, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday.

Separately, another opposition activist group based in Raqqa reported that about 30 airstrikes by "the crusader alliance" targeted areas northwest of the city.

Previously, coalition strikes have primarily targeted Kobani, near the Turkey border. The attacks in Raqqa mark an increase in coalition activity there.

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Pope Francis is meeting with Turkey's leaders Friday on the first day of a rare papal visit to the predominantly Muslim country.

During his trip, his first to Turkey as pontiff, Francis will meet the head of the Orthodox Church and voice support for Christians in the region and the many refugees who have fled fighting in Iraq and Syria.

The Pope's first stop was at the Ataturk Mausoleum, tomb of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of Turkish republic and its first president, where he laid a wreath.

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A suicide attack in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Wednesday killed five people and wounded 33 others, including at least four children, said Hashmat Stanikzai, Kabul's police chief.

An explosive-laden car was detonated as a foreign embassy convoy was passing in the 9th District police zone, said Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi.

The UK Foreign Office said two of those killed worked for the British Embassy.

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This was Ferguson early Tuesday morning.

Shattered glass from looted stores covered the asphalt. The smoke of tear gas lingered in the cold air. A no-fly zone imposed over the city.

"This ain't Iraq. This is the United States," Demetric Whitlock yelled to a line of police officers on South Florissant Road, in front of the Ferguson Police Department.

When a grand jury decided Monday not to indict Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, the act triggered fresh confrontations between protesters and police in the tense Missouri city.

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The United States might extend a deadline to reach a comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear program, a senior State Department official told CNN.

International negotiators in Vienna, Austria, are scrambling to reach a deal by Monday's deadline.

"It is only natural that less than 48 hours from the deadline we are discussing a range of options," the official said. "An extension is one of those options."

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A Palestinian man has admitted to deliberately ramming a vehicle into three Israeli soldiers in the West Bank two weeks ago - one of several recent cases of violence in the Palestinian territory or Jerusalem - Israeli police said Thursday.

Jamal Hamam Mesalmeh, 23, turned himself in to Israeli authorities shortly after the November 5 incident near the village of al-Aroub and claimed it was an accident, police said. The soldiers suffered moderate injuries, officials said at the time.

Israeli police said Mesalmeh is an activist associated with the Islamist Hamas movement. Police said he claimed he was inspired in part by an attack in eastern Jerusalem earlier November 5 - one in which Israeli authorities said a Palestinian drove into pedestrians at a rail station, killing two Israelis and at least 12 other peoplebefore police shot and killed the driver.

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There are just four days left for a nuclear deal with Iran. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond reportedly told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that he doesn't think an agreement is close.

CNN's Nic Robertson reports.

Snowstorms and record low temperatures whacked much of the country this week - and there's more havoc coming Wednesday.

About 50% of the country had snow on the ground Tuesday,according to the National Weather Service.

Buffalo, New York, one of the hardest-hit, is buried under 6 feet of snow - and counting.

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