The U.S. State Department's number two was to meet Wednesday with leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood's party after it claimed a crushing victory in landmark post-revolution parliamentary elections.

William Burns "will meet leaders of the Freedom and Justice Party at their headquarters in Cairo," FJP spokesman Ahmed Sobea told Agence France Presse.

Iran said Israel and the United States were behind a car-bomb assassination of one of its nuclear scientists in Tehran on Wednesday, calling it a "terrorist act" in the same vein as previous killings of other Iranian scientists.

"This terrorist act was carried out by agents of the Zionist regime (Israel) and by those who claim to be combatting terrorism (the United States) with the aim of stopping our scientists from serving" Iran, Vice President Mohammed Reza Rahimi told state television.

Four hundred people have been killed in Syria since Arab League monitors started a monitoring mission on December 26, and 40 people are being killed each day, a top U.N. official told the Security Council on Tuesday.

U.N. assistant secretary general B. Lynn Pascoe gave the new casualty figure in a closed meeting of the 15-member Council, according to envoys.

Germany on Tuesday led European calls for "serious negotiations" on a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria as a top U.N. official gave a briefing on efforts to end the deadly crackdown on protests.

Germany's U.N. envoy Peter Wittig said Russia's reluctance to discuss a resolution condemning President Bashar al-Assad over the crackdown was "unsatisfactory".

The Syrian National Council (SNC) branded Tuesday's speech by President Bashar al-Assad an "incitement to violence," indicating "more criminal behavior" by the regime.

"There is incitement to violence, incitement to civil strife, some talks about sectarian divisions which the regime itself has fomented and encouraged," Basma Qadmani, a member of the SNC, the largest opposition umbrella group, said at a press conference in Istanbul.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday opportunities to resume peace talks with Israel should be seized, but played down prospects for success.

"We will keep coordinating with King Abdullah II, and we welcome any chances provided by Jordan to back peace efforts," Abbas said after meeting the monarch in Amman, according to a palace statement.

The International Criminal Court on Tuesday gave Libya until January 23 to mull the possible handing over of ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi’s son Seif al-Islam.

A three-judge bench granted a Libyan request for an extension but said that the three weeks sought by Tripoli "would cause an undue delay in the proceedings and that only a shorter extension is appropriate".

Gunmen opened fire opened fire Tuesday on a hotel in the Egyptian resort of Taba bordering Israel, prompting Israeli tourists to flee, but there were no casualties, security sources said.

The attack was apparently a botched attempt to rob a jewelry store in the hotel, the sources said.

The UAE's foreign minister accused the Syrian regime on Tuesday of not facilitating the job of Arab League observers, lamenting the latest reported attacks on the envoys.

"The job of the observers is getting more difficult day after day ... We do not see a commitment from the Syrian side that would allow them" do their job, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan told reporters in Abu Dhabi.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi on Tuesday denounced attacks on Arab observers deployed in Syria, in which some monitors were wounded, and said he was holding the government in Damascus responsible for their mission.

"The Arab League denounces the irresponsible action and acts of violence against the League's observers," Arabi said in a statement issued by his office.