Seven days after the Egyptian military deposed the democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi, the United States has still not decided whether to call his ouster a "coup."

But top U.S. officials on Wednesday, while continuing to insist the United States was not taking sides in Egypt's political upheaval, sought to untangle the convoluted position taken by the Obama administration.

Pakistan reached an understanding with the United States on drone strikes targeting Islamist militants and the attacks can be useful, according leaked remarks from a former intelligence chief.

Pakistan publicly condemns U.S. missile attacks on Taliban and al-Qaida operatives as a violation of its sovereignty, but the new revelations are the latest sign of double-dealing in private.

Civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr is being remembered in a Washington, D.C. exhibition held to tie-in with the 50th anniversary of his famous march on the U.S. capital.

"One Life: Martin Luther King, Jr", takes a look back at the epic sweep of the slain Nobel laureate's life and times.

The Afghan government on Sunday said talks on a key security pact with the U.S. would only re-start when Taliban rebels meet with Kabul's negotiators, further complicating efforts to revive the country's troubled peace process.

The Taliban have consistently refused to meet the High Peace Council (HPC), the official negotiators of the Afghan government, saying that President Hamid Karzai is a puppet of the United States.

U.S. President Barack Obama will host a landmark summit of leaders from across sub-Saharan Africa next year, the White House said Sunday, jostling with China for economic influence in the region.

The plan has strong echoes of high-profile China-Africa summits, which over the last decade have cemented Beijing's clout on the continent.

China called a U.S. claim that it had facilitated the departure of former security contractor Edward Snowden from Hong Kong "groundless" on Tuesday, after Washington said Beijing had chosen to release him.

"It is unreasonable for the U.S. to question Hong Kong's handling of affairs in accordance with law, and the accusation against the Chinese central government is groundless," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing in Beijing, adding: "China cannot accept that."

The United States on Sunday welcomed North Korea's proposal for high-level negotiations but said it must first curb its nuclear program and would not be able to talk its way out of global sanctions.

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said negotiations have always been the administration's "preferred outcome" but that such talks would have to be "real" and "based on them living up to their obligations."

The United States stands behind its assessment that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons, vowing Friday there will be no repeat of the damaging mistake it made over Iraq.

And President Barack Obama will outline the proof to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin when they meet next week on the sidelines of a G8 summit.

A top U.S. official urged Turkish leaders Thursday to refrain from "unhelpful comments" after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused "terrorists" of stoking days of anti-government protests.

"We remain supportive... of peaceful protest and of freedom of speech that individuals are asserting in the country," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

Washington on Tuesday downplayed hopes that U.S. and Russian officials will set a date for a highly-anticipated Syria peace conference at new talks in Geneva, warning there were still challenges ahead.

Undersecretary Wendy Sherman and acting Assistant Secretary Beth Jones flew to the Swiss city for Wednesday's talks with their Moscow counterparts and U.N. envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi as they seek to launch peace negotiations.