UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday urged Israel to refrain from "further escalating an already grave situation" and called on Palestinian militants to stop firing rockets at Israeli civilian targets.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday that the United States wants " concrete action" from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) when the six-party talks resume.

Both Palestinian governing Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and its rival Fatah movement on Friday condemned the Israeli army for arresting a Hamas-led government minister in the West Bank city of Ramallah earlier in the day.

Somalia's Islamic courts on Friday criticized warnings issued by the United States that they may be planning suicide attacks in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia.

Three U.S. marines have been killed in combat in Iraq's volatile al-Anbar province, raising to 11 the U.S. troops' death toll in Iraq this month, the U.S. military said on Friday.

The U.S. consulate general in Lagos on Friday issued a warning notice that more attacks on foreigners and oil facilities will occur in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

Uganda and southern Sudan authority have agreed to withdraw the Ugandan troops near southern Sudanese town of Juba to facilitate the assembling of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

The U.S. government plans to screen all people who enter and leave the United States, create a terrorism risk profile of each individual and retain that information for up to 40 years, The Washington Post reported Friday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed in Brussels on Friday his displeasure over a draft resolution drawn up by Britain, France and Germany to impose UN sanctions on Iran.

Georgia would negotiate with its Russian gas supplier Gazprom for an acceptable price but would also look for alternative sources of supply, Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli said on Friday.