Thursday’s meeting between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat did not focus on the issue of Lebanon’s cabinet formation process, but rather at the possibility of tasking the Druze leader with “mediating between Syria and Turkey,” whose once warm relations have grown colder over Damascus’ violent crackdown on protesters, MTV reported Friday.

Meanwhile, OTV reported that Assad told Jumblat that “Syria has overcome the dangerous phase and that it has started to contain the situation caused by the conspiracy plotted by some major world powers and Arab states.”

Forget the "Made in China" snow globes packed with a miniature White House or cheap T-shirts, mugs and dog tags: a new museum gift shop is intent on selling only items that are made in the USA.

After Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders complained that Washington's many publicly-funded museums all sold souvenirs of American history made outside the United States -- most often in made in China -- the National Museum of American History rose to the challenge.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates flew into Kabul on Saturday for a farewell visit to Afghanistan after four and a half years of heading up the war effort at the Pentagon.

Gates is expected to visit some of the roughly 90,000 U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan as part of a 130,000-strong U.S.-led international force trying to stabilize the country and reverse a nearly 10-year Taliban insurgency.

Former presidential hopeful John Edwards pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of using $900,000 in campaign funds to cover up an extramarital affair, proclaiming: "I did not break the law."

Edwards, 57, was charged in a six-count indictment "for allegedly participating in a scheme to violate federal campaign finance laws," the Justice Department said.

French authorities suspended a customs inspector for having a photo taken of himself with U.S. President Barack Obama's passport as the leader entered France for the G8 summit, a union said Friday.

The inspector annoyed travelling U.S. officials by posing for a picture after stamping Obama's passport as the White House delegation arrived on May 26, local radio station France Bleu Cotentin reported.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that fiscal pressures on the U.S. military's budget will require sacrificing some missions abroad and scaling back pay and benefits.

Gates, who is due to step down at the end of June, urged military and civilian leaders to face up to harsh realities about the future size and role of the armed forces amid a push to contain the country's huge deficit.

Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu lectured President Barack Obama in his own office Friday, warning him not to chase "illusions" of Middle East peace and opening a deep rift in U.S.-Israel ties.

In a dramatic Oval Office appearance, after 90 minutes of talks, Prime Minister Netanyahu emphatically vowed Israel would never return to its 1967 borders and laid down a set of non-negotiable conditions for peace talks.

Top Republican contenders for the White House in 2012 accused President Barack Obama on Thursday of betraying staunch U.S. ally Israel in his new long-shot push for Middle East peace.

"President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus," thundered former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, generally viewed as the frontrunner in the race for the party's presidential nomination.

The United States warned Friday it would take "additional steps" against Syria if it continues a brutal crackdown on protesters, a week after imposing tough sanctions on the Arab nation.

"The United States believes that Syria's deplorable actions toward its people warrant a strong international response," the White House said in one of its strongest statements yet since the outbreak of unrest there.

A U.S. drone attack in Yemen targeted but failed to kill U.S.-Yemeni cleric and terror suspect Anwar al-Awlaqi, who is linked to al-Qaida and considered a major threat to the United States, U.S. media reported Friday.

The drone attack Thursday killed two local members of the militant network, a security source and witnesses told Agence France Presse in Yemen.