Iran's press has highlighted the high stakes and potential benefits of Tehran striking a deal with world powers over its nuclear program, as talks remain deadlocked ahead of Monday's deadline.

Kayhan, a newspaper considered close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Saturday that President Hassan Rouhani's negotiators must deliver a complete lifting of sanctions.

A Saudi Arabian inmate at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was repatriated Saturday, leaving 142 prisoners still at the jail President Barack Obama has pledged to close, the Pentagon said.

Mohammed al-Zahrani is the latest of seven prisoners freed from the controversial jail in the past three weeks, and his release comes just days after authorities transferred five inmates to Georgia and Slovakia. 

Russia on Saturday accused the West of seeking regime change in Moscow, raising tensions over the conflict in Ukraine in the worst crisis in relations since the end of the Cold War.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke out against Western sanctions on Russia after U.S. Vice President Joe Biden hinted Friday at possible further measures over its "unacceptable" role in the former Soviet state.

U.S. President Barack Obama telephoned Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to discuss the "evolving situation" in the region, the Pakistani foreign ministry said.

"Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed satisfaction at the direction of Pakistan-U.S. relations which were on an upward trajectory" and "President Obama noted Pakistan-U.S. relations were strong and robust" during their conversation Friday evening the ministry said in a statement.

Italian police on Friday placed 12 doctors under house arrest on suspicion of promoting baby milk formula over breastfeeding in exchange for kickbacks including luxury holidays.

The doctors had been bribed by several companies to prescribe baby formula for rewards worth thousands of euros, including iPhones, televisions, cruises and trips to the United States, India and Paris, the police said.

A Russian spy, jailed in Germany with her husband last year, has been freed early and allowed to return home, media reports said Friday, suggesting a possible prisoner swap.

The 48-year-old woman, known only by the pseudonym Heidrun Anschlag, was freed two days ago and returned to Russia while her 53-year-old husband, known as Andreas, remains in detention, the DPA news agency and Focus magazine reported.

Ukraine's new coalition government declared joining NATO a priority Friday in a move likely to provoke fresh Russian anger as thousands gathered in Kiev to mark the first anniversary of protests which unleashed a year of turmoil.

A crowd of several thousand gathered in Kiev's Independence Square, known as Maidan, late Friday to remember the more than 100 protestors who died in demonstrations that started on November 21 last year. 

Ecuador Friday guaranteed political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for "as long as necessary," one day after he lost an appeal against a Swedish warrant for his arrest.

Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuador embassy in London for two years to avoid extradition to Sweden, is wanted for questioning there over alleged sex crimes.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged calm Friday ahead of a grand jury decision expected to trigger protests in the restive town of Ferguson, where the FBI arrested two men on firearms charges.

A grand jury in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson is looking at the racially charged shooting that saw white police officer Darren Wilson shoot unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown, an African American.

U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to India in January for its Republic Day celebrations, and talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the White House said Friday.

"The president will meet with the prime minister and Indian officials to strengthen and expand the U.S.-India strategic partnership," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.