Afghan protesters firing slingshots and petrol bombs besieged the largest U.S.-run military base in Afghanistan on Tuesday, furious over reports that NATO troops had set fire to copies of the Quran.

Guards at Bagram airbase, about 60 kilometers north of Kabul, responded by firing rubber bullets from a watchtower, an Agence France Presse photographer said as the crowd shouted "Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar" (God is greater).

Several thousand Pakistanis poured onto the streets of Islamabad Monday, chanting "death to America" and demanding holy war at a rally whipped up by right-wing, religious and banned organizations.

It was the latest show of support for Defense of Pakistan, a coalition of around 40 parties chaired by a cleric dubbed the father of the Taliban that include organizations blacklisted at home and abroad as terror groups.

A top U.S. security official was due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday amid rising concerns over Iran and ahead of a trip by the Israeli premier to Washington.

The White House has said that National Security Advisor Tom Donilon would talk to senior Israeli officials on a range of issues, including Syria. An Israeli official said he would meet Netanyahu on Sunday afternoon.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday his administration was headed toward fulfilling its commitment of doubling U.S. exports over five years and promised to reward businesses that created jobs at home with tax breaks.

"Two years ago, I set a goal of doubling U.S. exports over five years," the president said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "And we're on track to meet that goal - ahead of schedule."

Egypt was set to further widen a row with the United States by announcing on Saturday that it would go ahead with a trial of foreign democracy activists, including 19 Americans, on February 26.

A court set the date for the start of the trial of 43 suspects -- who also include Serbs, Norwegians, Germans, Egyptians, Palestinians and Jordanians -- in a crackdown on NGOs accused of receiving illegal foreign aid, state media announced.

An immigration agent shot and injured another agent Thursday and was then killed by a third colleague in a federal building in Long Beach, south of Los Angeles, the FBI said.

The shooting occurred at about 5:30 p.m. local time, said FBI Special Agent Steven Martinez.

The United States vowed Thursday to retain close military ties to its European allies after unveiling plans to withdraw more than 11,000 troops from Germany and Italy as part of a strategic shift to Asia.

"No one should equate lower numbers of U.S. troops permanently stationed in Europe with declining engagement with our European partners," Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters.

The Defense Department on Wednesday referred criminal charges against a Pakistani accused of assisting in al-Qaida terror plots to a military commission, which is one of the last steps before a trial.

The Pakistani, Majid Shoukat Khan, has been held at the U.S. military's prison at Guantanamo since 2006.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged China to play by the "same rules" in the global economy but voiced hope for cooperation in a key introductory meeting with leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping.

Welcoming the Chinese vice president to the Oval Office, Obama raised trade and human rights disputes between the world's two largest economies and made clear that the United States intended to remain a key power in Asia.

A strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake shook the Solomon Islands Tuesday but there was no threat of a widespread destructive tsunami and no reports of damage, U.S. seismologists said.

The quake hit at 7:19 pm local time (08:19 GMT), 176 kilometers southeast of the capital Honiara at a depth of 54 kilometers, the U.S. Geological Survey said.