Egypt accused Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah of “walking in the footsteps of his mentor,” Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

“They all want to ignite the region,” Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Husam Zaki told the Saudi al-Watan daily about Nasrallah and Khamenei.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly on Tuesday discussed the recent political developments in the country in separate meetings with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel and caretaker Labor Minister Boutros Harb.

"Ambassador Connelly reiterated that the U.S. views the formation of a new Lebanese government as an exclusively Lebanese process that should remain free from outside interference," said a communiqué released by the U.S. Embassy following Connelly's talks with Geagea.

A suspected U.S. spy drone crashed near the south Yemen town of Loder on Tuesday before al-Qaida gunmen made off with the wreckage, a police official and witnesses said.

The drone crashed in Jahayn village near Loder, in Yemen's Abyan province where al-Qaida has a strong presence, and was found by local residents, the official told Agence France Presse.

Russia said Monday it was premature to set the date for a new round of nuclear disarmament talks on the short-range missiles whose reduction is sought by the United States.

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration is keen to launch talks over so-called tactical weapons that have remained uncovered by previous nuclear disarmament agreements with Russia.

Gunmen in southwestern Pakistan attacked five oil tankers carrying supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan, officials said Monday.

The incident took place near the town of Mithri, some 230 kilometers southeast of Quetta, the capital of the restive oil and gas-rich Baluchistan province which borders Iran and Afghanistan.

A Lebanese-German man who says he was snatched by the CIA in Macedonia and tortured at a secret prison after being mistaken for a terrorism suspect, will begin a legal battle against Macedonia Friday to demand official recognition of his ordeal.

Khaled el-Masri is seeking €50,000 ($69,000) in compensation — and an apology — from the government in Macedonia, where he says he was abducted while on a trip in 2003. His action follows failed attempts to have his case heard in court in the United States and Germany.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told U.S. diplomats in 2009 that neighboring Iran and Syria were providing weapons to insurgent groups within Iraq, a leaked document showed Thursday.

Maliki's comments to then-U.S. ambassador to Baghdad Christopher Hill came in the midst of a year-long diplomatic row with Damascus that prompted both Iraq and Syria to withdraw their respective ambassadors, while U.S. officials have long alleged that Iran backs militia groups operating inside Iraq.

Supporters of President Hosni Mubarak stormed a crowded anti-regime rally in central Cairo on Wednesday, sparking pandemonium in which at least 500 people were hurt and one killed, witnesses said.

Partisans from both sides threw stones and set on each other with sticks and fists in battles that raged for hours in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of anti-regime demonstrations, a day after Mubarak vowed to see out the rest of his term.

U.S. President Barack Obama has told his beleaguered Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak not to stand for re-election in upcoming September balloting, the New York Times said Tuesday.

The message from Obama was conveyed by former U.S. ambassador to Egypt, Frank Wisner, who was dispatched to Cairo on Monday by the U.S. administration, the influential U.S. daily said, quoting American diplomats.

Premier-designate Najib Miqati has stressed that he doesn’t “follow anyone’s agenda” even if Hizbullah and its allies brought him to power.

“I have a friendship with Hizbullah and I also have contacts outside of Lebanon, but it doesn’t mean I follow anyone’s agenda,” Miqati, 55, said in an interview with Bloomberg at his Beirut office.