Russia said it was looking with optimism at Saturday's Syria crisis talks in Geneva after being told by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the Syrians themselves should decide the makeup of their new government.

"I can confidently say that we have a very good chance tomorrow in Geneva to find a common denominator and mark a path forward," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after the talks, adding that Clinton had agreed the Syrian governing lineup "can only be decided by the Syrians themselves."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that a decision by UNESCO to grant world heritage status to the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem proved the U.N. cultural organization was motivated by politics.

"This decision proves that UNESCO is motivated by political motives, not cultural ones," Netanyahu said in a statement.

U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan said "external powers" have encouraged violence in Syria as he issued a new plea for unity ahead of a key international meeting on the conflict on Saturday.

"Many external powers are deeply involved. Despite formal unity behind the six-point plan, mutual mistrust has made them work at cross-purposes," Annan said in a commentary for the Washington Post published Friday.

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal held talks on Thursday with King Abdullah II on his second official visit to Jordan this year to boost ties with the kingdom.

"The meeting comes at a crucial time as part of coordination and cooperation between the two sides. Hamas is keen to develop relations with Jordan," Meshaal, who has Jordanian nationality, was quoted as saying in a palace statement.

Amnesty International urged incoming Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi on Friday to break the cycle of abuse under Hosni Mubarak and put the country on the path to the rule of law and respect for human rights.

Since the 2011 uprising that ousted the former president, "Egyptians have heard many promises that their demands would be listened to and that things would change, but so far their hopes have largely been frustrated," said Salil Shetty, Amnesty's secretary general.

The chief U.S. and Russian diplomats scrambled on Friday to save a peace plan for Syria in the face of 11th-hour objections but encouraging noises from Moscow on an international conference on the conflict.

Ahead of a key meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the foreign ministry in Moscow gave a cautious but positive assessment of the conference.

A criminal court on Thursday jailed for 15 years each a former Mubarak-era cabinet minister and a businessman for selling Israel natural gas below market value, a judicial source said.

"The Cairo criminal court sentenced former oil minister Sameh Fahmi and fugitive businessman Hussein Salem to 15 years in prison each over the (Israel) gas deal," the source told AFP.

Russia on Friday called the upcoming Geneva talks on Syria a "positive step" despite fears that the meeting might not go ahead because of disagreements and Moscow's anger at the absence of Iran.

"On the whole, we view the upcoming meeting in Geneva as a positive step in a search for a way to broaden and strengthen the basis of an international consensus," the Russian foreign ministry said in reference to Saturday's meeting.

Jordanian pro-reform demonstrators marched on Friday to salute Islamist Mohamed Morsi, "son of the Brothers," on the eve of his swearing-in as Egypt's first democratically elected civilian president.

"Congratulations to Egypt. The revolt has won," read one banner carried by more than 1,000 opposition Islamists and other members of political parties who marched in central Amman.

One person was killed and three wounded in a dawn attack Friday against the regional headquarters of the paramilitary police in the center of the Algerian town of Ouargla, the police said.

According to initial reports cited by the APS news agency, the attack was carried out "by a terrorist who sought to break into the headquarters building in his vehicle, after an exchange of fire with gendarmes."