Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday hailed Mitt Romney as the leader who can rescue America from foreign and domestic threats that she said have flourished during Barack Obama's presidency.

Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hailed Mitt Romney as the leader who can rescue America from foreign and domestic threats that she said have flourished during Barack Obama's presidency.

Condoleezza Rice delivers a key foreign policy convention speech Wednesday, the lone hold-out from the Bush era to take part in the coronation of Mitt Romney as the Republican presidential candidate.

The Democratic Party will play up what it sees as President Barack Obama's shining national security credentials at its party convention next week, aides to the president said Wednesday.

Syrian security agents have arrested a television actor who opposes the Damascus regime, activists said on Saturday, a day after a prominent independent filmmaker disappeared.

Afghan officials on Wednesday blamed "infiltration by foreign spy agencies" into the ranks of its security forces for a rise in attacks by Afghan soldiers on US-led NATO forces.

Top US military officer General Martin Dempsey insisted during a quick trip to Iraq that Washington was still playing an important role there, eight months after the last American troops departed.

US military chief General Martin Dempsey denounced ex-officers Tuesday for waging a campaign against President Barack Obama, arguing that soldiers had a duty to stay above the political fray.

A US resident detained without charge in Sudan after involvement in anti-government protests has been freed, a lawyer said on Friday, after Washington called for his release.

A Saudi daily insisted Wednesday it had held an interview with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, following denials from Moscow that he had ever spoken to the newspaper.

Israel is prepared for a 30-day war on multiple fronts should it decide to strike Iran, and is "ready as never before" for such a clash, the outgoing home front defence minister said Wednesday.

Israel's prime minister on Tuesday named former internal security minister Avi Dichter as new home front defence minister, amid growing speculation about a potential Israeli attack on Iran.

Israel has broken a network of Hamas cells in the West Bank and arrested two men suspected of involvement in the lynching of two soldiers in Ramallah in 2000, the internal security agency said on Thursday.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday said allowing the construction of a spate of border casinos was part of a "secret strategy" to protect the country's territory from its neighbours.

Snow flurries blew through South Africa on Tuesday, closing several border crossings with Lesotho and dusting parts of the country in white as residents poured into the streets to watch the snowflakes fall.

NATO on Tuesday named Dutchman Maurits Jochems as its next senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, replacing British ambassador Simon Gass.

A bomb blast rocked the headquarters of Syrian state television in the heart of Damascus on Monday wounding several people, Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi said.

A Palestinian man was killed and another wounded in an Israeli drone strike on Rafah in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, medics and witnesses said.

US troops who caused scandal by sleeping with prostitutes ahead of a visit to Colombia by President Barack Obama also allowed sniffer dogs to sleep in hotel beds and defecate on the premises.

An Italian embassy security agent kidnapped in Sanaa over the weekend was freed Thursday in the province of Mareb east of the Yemeni capital, a tribal source said.