The United States voiced concern Wednesday over a ruling by a Bahraini court to sentence eight Shiite opposition activists to life in prison.

"We are concerned about the severity of the sentences handed down... in Bahrain. We're also concerned about the use of military courts to try these civilians," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has joined forces with 17 other parties, including liberals and leftists, to form a common platform for parliamentary elections, as it seeks to allay fears among secular groups and the country's Christian minority.

In a meeting on Tuesday, the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, the liberal Wafd party, the left-leaning Tagammu and the Noor party, newly formed by Salafist Muslim hardliners, said they would "channel their efforts ... into building a state of law based on citizenship, equality and sovereignty of the people."

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad lacked "credibility" and urged the U.N. Security Council to overcome divisions on the Syria crisis.

"I do not see much credibility (in) what he has been saying," Ban told a small group of reporters in an interview to mark his reelection as secretary general.

Indonesia will suspend sending domestic helpers to Saudi Arabia after the beheading of a maid convicted of murdering her Saudi employer, a minister said Wednesday.

"The Indonesian government has decided to impose a moratorium on sending workers to Saudi Arabia," Labor Minister Muhaimin Iskandar was quoted by state news agency Antara as saying.

Israel's security cabinet on Wednesday met for the first time in a secret nuclear bunker in Jerusalem, officials and press reports said, as part of a massive nationwide defense exercise.

As air raid sirens cut through the air at 11:00 am (0800 GMT), the 14-member security cabinet was safely ensconced inside the underground bunker which is located somewhere in the hills around Jerusalem, Israel's main newspapers and radio stations reported.

NATO vowed Wednesday to press its bombing campaign in Libya despite a call from member state Italy for a halt to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid as the civilian death toll mounts.

Alliance chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said more civilians would die if operations were not maintained under a U.N. mandate to protect Libyans from the exactions of the government of veteran leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Israeli troops on Wednesday began taking down barbed wire around the West Bank village of Bilin, focus of years of protests against Israel's controversial separation barrier, Agence France Presse reported.

Army bulldozers were seen razing a watchtower on a hill overlooking the village but the military declined to comment on the significance of the operation.

The European Union on Wednesday agreed to extend the list of sanctions against Syria by adding seven people, including three Iranians, and four companies.

The three Iranians were accused of providing military equipment to support Syria's brutal crackdown on protests, diplomats told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.

A senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss the cases of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and a man suspected of spying for the Jewish state, an airport official said.

Yitzhak Molho was to meet Egyptian officials "to discuss the Shalit issue, the recent spy case and other issues such as the peace process and Egyptian gas exports to Israel," the official told Agence France Presse.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Wednesday rejected foreign meddling in his country's internal affairs while stressing Damascus is keen to maintain good ties with longtime ally Turkey.

"We are keen on maintaining good relations with Turkey with which we share a common border of 850 kilometers," Muallem told a press conference in Damascus.