The United Nations condemned on Wednesday the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on protests and called for those responsible to be held "accountable," as tanks stormed the protest hub of Hama.

A Security Council statement agreed after weeks of often-acrimonious talks said the body "condemns the widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities."

Iran's conservative dominated parliament on Wednesday endorsed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's pick, a Revolutionary Guards commander targeted by international sanctions, to head the key oil ministry.

Brigadier General Rostam Qasemi ran the sanctions-hit industrial wing of the elite Guards, Khatam al-Anbiya, which is highly active in the country's oil sector.

A New York-based architectural firm was on Tuesday awarded a prestigious contract from billionaire Roman Abramovich to design an island in Russia's imperial capital Saint Petersburg.

The WORKac firm was announced the winner in a private tender organized by the Millhouse investment firm of the billionaire businessman that oversees the design of the New Holland project.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday, dragged down by concerns that demand will weaken due to slowing economic growth and the Eurozone debt crisis as traders awaited data on U.S. crude inventory levels.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, slipped 39 cents to $93.40 a barrel.

Japanese high-tech maker Hitachi said Wednesday it is considering shifting all television production to foreign outsourcing firms by March as part of a broad strategy to increase profitability.

Hitachi, whose products range from microchips to nuclear power equipment, has not made a final decision about the plan, a spokesman added.

Irish rock band U2 has closed out what was described as "the most successful concert tour of all time" over five continents and two years, according to concert promoter Live Nation.

Liz Morentin, a Live Nation spokeswoman, told Agence France Presse Tuesday the final numbers are not yet in from the U2 "360 degree Tour" but said "it surpassed $700 million, beating the Rolling Stones record" from a 2005-2007 tour.

An art exhibit featuring a Jesus Christ poster with a wooden penis glued to His face has sparked protests in the mainly Catholic Philippines.

Bishops and lay groups have demanded the state-run Cultural Center of the Philippines close the exhibit on grounds it is blasphemous, immoral, illegal and offends the country's Catholic majority.

One of the earliest films made by British master director Alfred Hitchcock has been found in New Zealand, researchers said Wednesday.

The New Zealand Film Archive said the first three reels of the six-reel feature "The White Shadow" were found in a cache of ageing nitrate prints given to the archive in the 1990s.

Google is a latecomer to social networking but its new site, Google+, is growing much more rapidly than Facebook, Myspace and Twitter did in their early days, technology experts said Tuesday.

While Google+ may be the fastest-growing social network ever, it remains to be seen, however, whether it can pose a serious threat to the social networking titan Facebook, which has more than 750 million members.

Facebook on Tuesday said it has bought an innovative young startup devoted to re-imagining electronic books.

Facebook planned to incorporate Push Pop Press technology into the world's leading online social network and said it does not intend to get into the digital book business.