Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea criticized on Wednesday the Syrian army’s infiltration of Lebanese territory on Tuesday, describing the action as being a military one.

He said after holding talks with French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton: “The Lebanese government should send a strongly-worded complaint to Syria over the matter.”

France said Wednesday that it opposed moves by the Palestinian Authority to seek rapid recognition as a full state member of the United Nations cultural organization UNESCO.

"We don't think UNESCO is the appropriate arena," foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said, after Arab members of the world body said they wanted the Palestinians to be promoted from observers to full members.

Somalia's Shebab rebels vowed more attacks after a deadly car bomb killed more than 70 people in Mogadishu, spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage said in speech broadcast Wednesday by the group's radio.

"We are promising that attacks against the enemy will be routine, more in number and will increase day by day," Rage said over radio al-Andalus.

Russia hit out on Tuesday at a U.N. resolution proposed by European nations that condemns Syria's deadly crackdown on anti-regime protests, describing it as "unacceptable."

Britain, France, Germany and Portugal had dropped the word "sanctions" from their draft text in a bid to win over members of the U.N. Security Council, but it was not enough to avoid opposition from veto-wielding Russia.

Speaker Nabih Berri criticized on Tuesday the international community’s “double standards” in dealing with Israel, accusing it of having hidden agendas in the Middle East.

He said before the Armenian parliament: “International decision-makers are placing all Arab regimes in the position of the accused in order to subject them to their will.”

Shells fired into a popular shopping district of Yemen's capital killed one civilian and wounded two others on Tuesday, witnesses and medical officials said.

The two shells slammed into Hayel Road late in the morning as the area was packed with shoppers and pedestrians, killing one man, the witnesses said.

Security forces were able to identify the man who entered the United Nations offices in Gefinor Center in Clemenceau on Monday and threw flyers threatening of a bomb attack.

An Nahar newspaper reported on Tuesday that the man is an employee at the building and the Internal Security forces are pursuing him.

A senior North Korean official is due to visit the United States amid signs of an easing of relations between the two countries, a report said Monday.

Ri Jong-Hyok, vice chairman of the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, has been allowed to attend a forum at the University of Georgia on October 17-20, Yonhap news agency said.

A meeting will be held on Monday between Lebanese security forces and agencies tasked with protecting the United Nations headquarters in Beirut to reconsider the measures taken to secure the building against any possible threat, An Nahar reported.

The security measures taken near the ESCWA building have caused a major bumper-to-bumper traffic near the U.N. Economic and Social Commission of Western Asia building in Beirut.

The Arab League appealed to member states Sunday to bolster financial help to the Palestinian territories after U.S. lawmakers froze about $200 million in aid in response to Palestinians' U.N. statehood bid.

"It is necessary for the member countries of the League to increase their financial aid to the Palestinian people so they can face this threat," said Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi after talks in Cairo with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat.