The United States joined Israel in condemning the International Criminal Court decision to open a preliminary probe Friday into possible war crimes committed against Palestinians, blasting it as a "tragic irony".

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said her office would conduct an "analysis in full independence and impartiality" into alleged war crimes by Israel, including those committed during last year's Gaza offensive. 

North Korea is showing no signs of preparing for a new nuclear test, a U.S. think tank said Friday, citing recent satellite imagery.

A total of 63 percent of Americans approve of recent moves by the United States and Cuba to restore diplomatic ties and two-thirds favor lifting the economic embargo altogether, a survey released Friday said.

Despite those assessments, only 32 percent of Americans think that the warming of ties between the Cold War-era foes will lead to more democracy in Cuba, the Americas' only communist state, according to the Pew Research Center report.

The United States condemned Friday sometimes violent protests by thousands of people in Muslim majority countries against a new cartoon of the prophet Mohammed published by French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Washington stressed the "universal" right of the press to freely publish any kind of information, including caricatures, after at least three people were injured when protesters clashed with police outside the French consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.

Europe must do more to better integrate its Muslim communities, and not "simply respond with a hammer," U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday in the wake of last week's terror attacks in France.

"Our biggest advantage, major, is that our Muslim populations -- they feel themselves to be Americans," Obama told a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron. 

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday urged Congress not to impose new sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, threatening to veto any such legislation that lands on his desk.

"Congress needs to show patience," Obama told a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, adding that new sanctions would "jeopardize the possibility of... providing a diplomatic solution to one of the most difficult and long-lasting national security problems that we've faced in a very long time."

The U.S. military will send more than 400 troops to train Syrian rebel forces as part of a long-planned effort to build up a moderate opposition to take on the Islamist State group, the Pentagon said Friday.

The United States will ease travel and trade restrictions with Cuba on Friday, marking the first concrete steps towards restoring normal ties with the Cold War-era foe since announcing a historic rapprochement.

While full-fledged tourism to Cuba remains prohibited, certain approved categories of Americans, like journalists, scholars, artists and athletes will face fewer bureaucratic hurdles to travel to the Communist-ruled nation under the new rules.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and U.S. President Barack Obama vowed a united front against Islamic extremists following a series of attacks in France, in an article released Wednesday.

The joint editorial published on the eve of a visit by Cameron to Washington said security was necessary for economic strength and that the two countries would work together to combat terrorism.

The case of a U.S.-Iranian correspondent for the Washington Post who has been detained since July is to go before the Islamic republic's revolutionary court, Tehran's prosecutor general said Wednesday.

"With the investigation closed, the charge sheet has been drawn up and the case of Jason Rezaian has been sent to the revolutionary court," said Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi, quoted by Fars news agency, without giving details or any date.