Germany's foreign minister said Friday that U.N. wrangling over a resolution on Syria was harming the people, as he pushed for decisive action amid Russian hesitation and frantic diplomacy.
Speaking ahead of the opening of the Munich Security Conference, Guido Westerwelle called on his counterparts at the gathering to use the time to continue talks on finding language acceptable to all in a resolution.

Jordanian military prosecutors on Friday charged an outspoken former MP with incitement against the regime and calling for a revolt, a judicial official said.
"State security court prosecutors charged Ahmed Abbadi with inciting the public to oppose the regime and urging a revolt during a protest for military retirees last month," the official told Agence France Presse.

Turkey's military jets on Friday hit Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq where members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) are holed up, the army said.
"Three targets belonging to the separatist terrorist organization in the Zap region ... were effectively hit by Turkish air force planes," the General Staff said in a statement posted on its website.

Russia's deputy foreign minister said Friday that Moscow could not support the latest U.N. Security Council draft resolution on Syria in its current form, the Interfax news agency reported.
"Some of our concerns and the concerns of those who think the same as us have been taken into consideration but all the same this is not enough for us to be able to support it in this form," deputy minister Gennady Gatilov said.

Two Egyptian protesters died on Friday of tear gas inhalation, medics said, as clashes raged in central Cairo between police and protesters amid nationwide protests calling for the ouster of the ruling military amid fury at the deaths of 74 people in football-related violence.
The two were rushed to hospital unconscious after joining protests near the interior ministry where riot police fired tear gas and demonstrators hurled rocks back, after a night of confrontations left hundreds injured.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday held "constructive" talks with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov over a draft U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Syria's crackdown, officials said.
The pair agreed that diplomatic teams from both countries would "continue to consult" on the draft in New York, said State Department spokesman Mark Toner, amid a U.S. push for passage of the resolution.

Protesters flooded towns and cities across Syria defying a brutal government crackdown on Friday to commemorate the notorious 1982 massacre in the city of Hama that killed tens of thousands.
At least 36 people were reported killed on Friday, including 11 soldiers and three army deserters, activists and a rights group said.

Two American women and their Egyptian tour guide, who were captured by armed Bedouins in the Sinai peninsula on Friday, have been released unharmed after several hours, security officials said.
The three arrived back at their hotel in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where they were met by South Sinai's governor and security chief, officials said.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said time is running out for a settlement but he is not giving up, after Israeli and Palestinian leaders rejected a return to direct negotiations.
"Basically I am not disappointed, it is expected", Ban said late Thursday at the end of a three day trip to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories where he got little joy from political leaders and shoes hurled at him by protesters in Gaza.

Iran has its "own threats" to respond to any military attack or sanctions against its oil exports, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday.
"In response to threats of oil embargo and war, we have our own threats which will be implemented at the right time, if necessary," he said in a televised speech as he led traditional Friday prayers in Tehran.
