Germany's cabinet on Wednesday proposed September 22 as the date for national elections in Europe's top economy, as a new opinion poll put Chancellor Angela Merkel's party 16 points ahead of her nearest rival.

The cabinet proposed the date after the main political parties and the majority of Germany's 16 states signed up to September 22.

The White House condemned a suicide bombing outside the U.S. embassy in Ankara on Friday as a "terrorist attack," but said it did not yet know who was behind it.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said "we strongly condemn" the attack, which killed a Turkish security guard and wounded several other people.

The White House on Thursday warned Syria not to transfer weapons to Hizbullah, as tensions mounted following reported Israeli raids on a military research center and a Lebanon-bound weapons convoy.

"Syria should not further destabilize the region by transferring weaponry to Hizbullah," said Ben Rhodes, a U.S. deputy national security adviser.

The White House on Monday condemned the unrest shaking Egypt's fragile peace and called on the country's leaders to make clear that violence is never acceptable.

"We strongly condemn the recent violence that has taken place in various Egyptian cities," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

With only days left until she steps down as America's top diplomat, Hillary Clinton left the door open Sunday to a possible future run in the 2016 presidential elections.

And, in a rare joint interview with CBS, she appeared to win the endorsement of none other than President Barack Obama, the man who beat her in the 2008 race to be the Democratic Party's nominee.

To everyone else, he is the president of the United States, but to his young daughters Barack Obama is just Dad, who sometimes messes stuff up.

The president's 11-year-old daughter Sasha on Sunday gave a rare glimpse into the 44th U.S. president's personal life, after watching her father take the oath of office to begin his second term.

The White House and the U.S. Defense Department are at odds over the danger posed by radical Islamic groups that have taken control of parts of Mali and are stirring up trouble in other parts of West Africa, The Los Angeles Times reported late Friday.

Citing unnamed U.S. officials, the newspaper said the events in Mali and neighboring Algeria have prompted sharp debate within President Barack Obama's administration over whether these radicals present enough of a risk to warrant a military response.

The United States on Wednesday confirmed that American citizens are among hostages being held in Algeria after an attack by Islamist militants near a southern gas field.

"The best information that we have at this time is that U.S. citizens are among the hostages," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, but she added that for the safety of the people concerned she would not give further details on how many were held and who they were.

President Barack Obama picked Jack Lew as his new Treasury secretary Thursday and called on the Senate to confirm him as quickly as possible, so he can press on with the work of reviving the economy.

Lew, Obama's current chief of staff, is slated to take over from Tim Geithner, who stood by Obama's side at the darkest moments of the crisis that was hammering American jobs and prosperity when he took office in 2009.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is due to begin a four-day U.S. trip Tuesday in which he will meet U.S. President Barack Obama for crucial talks on the future of the American presence in Afghanistan.

Friday's meeting at the White House will come just days after Obama put the finishing touches to his security team, having named his picks to head up the State Department, Pentagon and CIA.