The U.S. military has no plans to alter its troop drawdown timetable in Afghanistan despite a week of deadly unrest over the burning of the Koran at an American base, the Pentagon said Monday.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and top U.S. military officer General Martin Dempsey both "believe that the fundamentals of our strategy remain sound," spokesman George Little told reporters.

Oil prices fell below $109 a barrel Monday in Asia after a 14 percent gain this month that was driven by signs of an improving U.S. economy and fears of an Iran supply cut.

Benchmark crude for April delivery was down 86 cents to $108.91 per barrel late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.94 to settle at $109.73 in New York on Friday.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has left for Washington on a two-day U.S. trip expected to include meetings with senior administration officials, Israel's defense ministry said on Monday.

"Minister of Defense Ehud Barak left this morning for a two-day working visit in Washington DC. During the trip, the minister will discuss a host of regional issues with a number of leading figures in the administration," the ministry said in a statement.

For the past two decades, the U.S. space agency has been practically obsessed with Mars. It has hardly missed an opportunity about every two years to fling robotic spacecraft at the red planet.

This summer, the most high-tech rover ever, Curiosity, will land near the Martian equator in search of the chemical building blocks of life. The more scientists study Mars, the closer they get to answering whether microbial life once existed there, a clue to the ultimate question: Are we alone?

China has reached a "turning point" in its economic development, with the pace of growth likely to nearly halve in the next two decades, World Bank and Chinese government researchers said Monday.

The Asian giant must implement deep reforms to avoid a sudden slowdown in growth, such as scaling back its vast and powerful state-owned enterprises and breaking up monopolies in strategic sectors, the analysts said in a report.

Authorities in Shanghai have accused U.S. Fortune 500 battery maker Johnson Controls and several other companies of emitting excessive amounts of lead blamed for poisoning dozens of children.

The U.S. giant denies a plant it owns was responsible for the pollution in the Chinese city's Kangqiao area, where 49 children, most of them aged between one and three, were diagnosed with lead poisoning in September.

White House hopeful Rick Santorum accused Afghans on Sunday of "overreacting" over Koran burning as he stepped up his criticism of President Barack Obama for apologizing over the incident.

The Republican presidential candidate said there was "no deliberate act ... of disrespect" when U.S. authorities at Bagram airbase north of Kabul apparently disposed of the Islamic holy books in a fire.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday that deadly protests in Afghanistan over the burning of Korans by U.S. soldiers "must stop".

"We deeply regret the incident that has led to this protest, but we also believe that violence must stop and the hard work for building a more peaceful and secure Afghanistan must continue," she told a news conference during a visit to the Moroccan capital Rabat.

Top economic powers at the G20 meeting in Mexico's capital this weekend were set to urge Europe to do more to tackle its financial crisis before they commit to new funding for the IMF.

The European Union is seeking to gain support for an additional $500 billion of resources for the International Monetary Fund at the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in Mexico City on Saturday and Sunday.

A U.S. drone crashed in northwest Pakistan's tribal district near the Afghan border late Saturday, officials said.

The unmanned reconnaissance aircraft came down in the mountainous Machikhel area about 30 kilometers east of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan region, which is frequently targeted by drone strikes against Taliban and al-Qaida militants, military and security officials said.