U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday that the G8 -- which includes Russia -- agreed that the political process in Syria should move forward "in a more timely fashion."

"We had a discussion about Syria, we all believe that a peaceful resolution and a political transition in Syria is preferable," Obama said, flanked by leaders of the G8 industrialized nations at a Camp David summit.

Iran on Saturday said sanctions over its disputed nuclear program should be lifted in talks with world powers next week in Baghdad, but maintained the punitive measures would not compel it to abandon its atomic "rights."

Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told the government daily Iran that the lifting of sanctions would display "the first signs" that the West is changing its "wrong" approach towards Iran and its nuclear work.

The Syrian letter sent to the U.N. Security Council claiming that al-Qaida and the Muslim Brotherhood are involved in incidents along the Lebanese-Syrian Border is merely an attempt by the Syrian authorities to intervene in Lebanon, An Nahar newspaper reported.

Informed sources told the daily that the Syrian allegations coincide with calls made by a well-known political party in northern Lebanon for the Syrian army to re-enter the country.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel stressed on Saturday that the Lebanese authorities didn’t find any evidence proof that al-Qaida exists in Lebanon.

“If anyone had any information then they should inform us about it in order to traxk down these groups,” Charbel told al-Mustaqbal newspaper.

Iran is looking to deceive the world over its nuclear program in talks with the P5+1 group of world powers, Israel premier Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday after talks with Czech President Vaclav Klaus.

"It looks as though they see the talks as another opportunity to delay and deceive and buy time, pretty much as North Korea did for many years," he said, just days ahead of the next round of negotiations which are to take place in Baghdad on May 23.

There is still no agreement among leaders of the world's richest nations on the final text of a declaration that will touch upon the protracted conflict in Syria, a Kremlin advisor said Thursday.

The leaders of the G8 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States -- will meet Friday and Saturday for a summit at the Camp David presidential retreat near Washington.

NATO's bombing campaign in Libya left 72 civilians dead last year, a leading human rights group said Monday, accusing the military alliance of failing to acknowledge the deaths.

In a 76-page report, Human Rights Watch urged NATO to provide "prompt and suitable compensation" to families for the civilian deaths, injuries and loss of property.

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon has called on Sudan to move its troops out of the disputed territory of Abyei after rival South Sudan withdrew its security forces.

Ban called on both governments to fall in line with a U.N. Security Council deadline to start talks on all their disputes, said U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky in a statement released late Saturday.

Iran's foreign minister hailed Francois Hollande's election as French president, voicing hope it can boost bilateral ties, as he met visiting former French socialist premier Michel Rocard.

Ali Akbar Salehi "welcomed the victory of Francois Hollande and hopes to see a new approach taken between Tehran and Paris in all areas based on mutual respect" during their meeting in Tehran late Friday, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The first group of ethnic South Sudanese among up to 15,000 camped in crowded conditions in Sudan were to begin their journey home on Saturday, the International Organization for Migration said.

About 400 people will be brought to Khartoum by bus from the way-station of Kosti, about 300 kilometers (190 miles) south of the capital, ahead of a major airlift early on Sunday, IOM Sudan chief Jill Helke said.