British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett on Sunday welcomed the announcement of the death sentence of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, saying the verdict was just for the Iraqi people.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is now visiting France, refused to comment on the death sentence of his predecessor Saddam Hussein, insisting the trial was "fair", according to reports on Sunday.

Sporadic clashes broke out in some Sunni districts in Baghdad on Sunday, immediately after a Baghdad court sentenced the ousted president Saddam Hussein to death, an Interior Ministry source and witnesses said.

European and Latin American leaders vowed to cooperate in curbing illegal immigration as they closed the 16th Ibero-American summit on Sunday.

Afghan police killed three Taliban insurgents and injured three others in Paktika province of eastern Afghanistan, the provincial governor told Xinhua on Sunday.

Some insurgents attacked a district center in Khost province of eastern Afghanistan Saturday and injured four policemen, the provincial spokesman told Xinhua on Sunday.

France hoped the death sentence delivered to Iraqi former President Saddam Hussein would not "bring about new tensions" in Iraq, French Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy said on Sunday.

The United States denied on Sunday that it had any hand in the timing of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's death sentence and claimed that Iraq's judiciary was operating "independently."

A U.S. marine has been killed in a non-hostile action in Iraq's western Anbar province, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

Iraq's former president Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging in Dujail case on Sunday by a criminal tribunal, sparking demonstrations among his fellow Sunnis and celebrations among Iraqi Shiites.