Iraqi Major General Qassim Atta on Friday said an explosion near parliament was a botched attempt to kill the prime minister, after an official termed it an attempt on the parliament speaker's life.

At least one person was killed and two wounded in the blast near the Iraqi parliament building on Monday, the cause of which was disputed. MP Muayid al-Tayyeb was one of those hurt.

Egypt said on Friday the country's first post-revolution election had seen a record turnout but it again delayed the release of full results expected to show Islamist candidates sweep to victory.

At a press conference by the election commission chief Abdul Moez Ibrahim, already pushed back by two days, he began announcing figures before abruptly leaving the room saying he had "no more energy" and had "run out of gas."

Russia on Friday lambasted the U.N. Human Rights Council's findings of "gross violations" by Syria as "unacceptable" and warned against using them as a pretext for military action.

"The positions (adopted) in the document, which include the veiled hint of the possibility of foreign military intervention under the pretext of defending the Syrian people, are unacceptable to the Russian side," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

A South African journalist told AFP Friday he was deported from Qatar after being diagnosed with HIV and sacked by the satellite network Al-Jazeera, which is based in the Gulf country.

In response to questions posed by AFP in an email, he said he underwent medical tests required to obtain his residence permit, but was only informed that he had HIV when his status was printed on a medical card months later.

The U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday slammed "gross violations" in Syria following evidence security forces murdered and tortured dissidents including children, as eleven more people reportedly died.

Council members in Geneva overwhelmingly passed a resolution "strongly condemning the continued widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities" and referred a report on the abuses to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

More than a thousand Jordanian protesters demonstrated Friday in central Amman calling for the country to be saved from corruption and demanding regime reforms.

"Saving Jordan from corruption is a national duty," read a banner carried by the protesters, including opposition Islamists and youth groups, who marched from Al-Husseini mosque to the nearby city hall in the city center.

Al-Watan, Syria's only privately-owned political daily, was added to a European Union sanctions blacklist on Friday for its alleged role in a state crackdown on dissent.

In an expanded blacklist of companies and individuals, the EU included Al-Watan and website Sham Press, also privately owned, but did not add state-run newspapers Tishrin, Al-Baath and Al-Thawra.

The oil-rich United Arab Emirates on Friday celebrated the 40th anniversary of its establishment with parades, musical shows and ceremonies across the seven-member federation.

The president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan who is also ruler of Abu Dhabi, the richest member, vowed in a speech to widen the participation of "citizens in public affairs."

The U.N.'s human rights chief called Friday for Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court over allegations that its crackdown on opposition protesters has led to crimes against humanity.

Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said fresh reports from the country — including that 307 children have been killed since March — reinforced the need for the Security Council to submit the situation in Syria to the Hague-based court.

Mutinous soldiers have attacked a Syrian air force intelligence base in the northwestern province of Idlib, killing eight people, a rights group said on Friday.

"A group of deserters attacked an air force intelligence center... killing eight people from the base," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement received in Nicosia.