The United States on Tuesday voiced its concern over worsening civilian-military relations in Fiji, and warned the Fiji military against attempting to overthrow the democratically elected government.

A senior Finnish diplomat held meetings in Cyprus on Tuesday with parties concerned to prevent a crisis between the European Union (EU) and Turkey, the semi- official Cyprus News Agency reported.

The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) will receive U.S. foreign military aid worth 30 million U.S. dollars before the end of this year and the figure is likely to grow about three times in 2007, a news report said Monday.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy will pay a visit to Poland on Friday at the invitation of Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga, the PAP news agency quoted Polish Foreign Ministry as saying on Tuesday.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has reportedly talked to his Fijian counterpart about the situation in Fiji as two Royal Australian Navy warships have been put on standby to sail to Fiji to assist with any evacuation of Australians in the event of a coup.

U.S. troops pulled out of checkpoints around Shiite militia's stronghold of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday hours after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered them to withdraw.

Former South African state president P.W Botha passed away at the age of 90 on Tuesday night.

Romania's Romarm company on Tuesday presented the prototype of a new multi-role armored vehicle, called 8x8 SAUR, which was made by a team of Romanian researchers at Automatica Moreni in cooperation with companies from the United States, Norway and Israel.

Mexico's Attorney General's Office (PGR) and Interpol are actively seeking the arrest of former Guatemalan president Alfonso Portillo, who will then be extradited to Guatemala on a charge of embezzling nearly 16 million U.S. dollars of public funds, PGR officials told Xinhua on Tuesday.

Russia has no information indicating Iran's nuclear program is for military purposes but Tehran should act quickly to clarify lingering questions about its nuclear work, a top official said on Tuesday.