Macedonia on Saturday urged NATO leaders to accept it as a member when the alliance holds a summit in Chicago in May, despite Greek opposition due to a long-running row over its name.

Athens says the use of the name Macedonia suggests a territorial claim to the northern Greek province of the same name. Skopje says that changing the name would be a denial of its national identity and language.

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie said Saturday the world should intervene to stop the violent crackdown in Syria and condemned powers that have vetoed a U.N. resolution against the regime.

"I think Syria has got to a point, sadly, where certainly some form of intervention is absolutely necessary," Jolie told al-Jazeera Balkans in an interview shown on the channel's Internet site.

Swiss authorities have intercepted mobile phone surveillance equipment destined for Syria and Iran, an official told Swiss Television.

Juergen Boehler from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) told the German channel's "10 vor 10" program European suppliers had tried to send the goods via Switzerland but customs officials seized them at the border.

Tens of thousands of Vladimir Putin's supporters backed his bid for the presidency in rallies across Russia on Saturday, trying to outdo mass nationwide protests staged by his opponents.

At least 50,000 people attended rallies in European Russia, Siberia and the Far East supporting Putin's candidacy for a historic third Kremlin term in March 4 polls, Agence France Presse correspondents and police reports said.

Thirteen Russian troops have been killed and at least 17 others wounded in five days of clashes with Islamic insurgents in the snowy mountains covering restive Chechnya and Dagestan, a report said Friday.

The North Caucasus standoff first erupted on Monday and resumed again on Friday morning after an overnight lull, Interfax quoted an unnamed Russian security source as saying.

The head of the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee is to visit Syria next week for talks with its leadership amid concern over the growing bloodshed, he announced on Thursday.

Alexei Pushkov, the head of the international affairs committee of the State Duma lower house, told the Interfax news agency that his visit was aimed at reporting back to parliament about the situation inside the country.

Russia set an arms export record of $13.2 billion last year despite losing Arab clients and facing stiffer competition from China, a top official was quoted as saying Thursday.

A quarter of Russia's sales went to India and 15 percent to Algeria, with Vietnam responsible for 10 percent of the purchases, Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation chief Mikhail Dmitriyev was quoted as saying by Vedomosti.

A Syrian opposition group on Thursday rejected a newly proposed constitution, urging voters to boycott a referendum set for later this month and to step up efforts to oust President Bashar Assad.

"The Local Coordination Committees calls upon our people to reject and boycott the alleged referendum to confirm the lack of public support for this criminal regime," the opposition group said in a statement.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe warned Wednesday that Russia was isolating itself after its veto of a U.N. resolution on Syria and would try to convince his Russian counterpart to change tack.

Juppe said it would take "all my powers of persuasion" when he meets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Vienna on Thursday.

Russia on Wednesday angrily dismissed claims that Syrian forces have been using chemical weapons against the opposition with the help of Russian experts.

"We categorically deny these fabrications," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.