Syrian troops and rebels fought fierce battles on Friday in the city of Aleppo, where several people died when a shell crashed into a bakery as hundreds queued for bread, Agence France Presse reported.

The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said regime forces shot dead 115 civilians and rebels across the country.

The United States on Friday added Hizbullah to a list of organizations under sanctions for their ties to the Syrian regime.

"This action highlights Hizbullah's activities within Syria and its integral role in the continued violence the Assad regime is inflicting on the Syrian population," the U.S. Treasury Department charged in a statement.

Iranian police are looking for a phony sorcerer who conned a man into believing he was invisible and could rob banks, the Jam-e Jam newspaper said Thursday.

Customers at a Tehran bank quickly overpowered the deluded robber after he started snatching banknotes from their hands.

A woman in China tied a blow-up sex doll to a roadside tree intending to slow down traffic on Wednesday, The Sun reported.

Infuriated at the police for failing to pursue speeding motorists passing by her home in the city of Ningbo, the resident of the house Lin Chen, 67, took matters into her own hands.

Members of a Russian sect found living in an underground bunker with some 20 children, many of whom have never seen the sun, have been charged with child abuse last week.

The digging began about a decade ago and 70 followers of the sect moved into an eight-level subterranean residence of small cells with no light, heat or ventilation.

World famous tennis player Roger Federer told CNN on Monday that he may make another attempt to win the Olympic singles gold medal he wants in Rio in four years' time.

The world No. 1 was beaten in the London 2012 Olympic Games by Britain's Andy Murray on Monday, the man Federer beat to secure his seventh Wimbledon title just over a month ago.

Although London 2012 officials are keen to keep secret details of Sunday's Olympic closing ceremony, former ‘’Wham!’’ singer George Michael announced his involvement on Twitter.

Michael tweeted on Tuesday: "Spending most of the next week rehearsing like crazy for the Olympic closing ceremony...

A Turkish soldier was killed and seven others were wounded Thursday after an attack on their military vehicle in the western Turkish province of Izmir, NTV news channel reported.

The military vehicle was hit by an explosion at 8:00 AM before the assailants opened fire on the troops, who were on their way to Amfibi Marine Infantry post located in the tourist town of Foca.

A man was killed and several people were wounded in a Syria-related clash between residents from two villages in northern Lebanon on Wednesday, officials told Agence France Presse.

"A man was killed and several injured when men from Sunni-majority Akroum village clashed with the majority Shiite village of Hourani," a security official said on condition of anonymity.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea noted on Wednesday that the new electoral law is better than the 1960 law, although it does not ensure proper representation during the parliamentary elections.

He said during a press conference: “The new law favors the March 8 camp to ensure that they are better represented.”