Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Monday called on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to resign after the leak of embarrassingly candid U.S. diplomatic correspondence by WikiLeaks.

"The empire stands naked... Mrs. Clinton should resign," Chavez said in a speech, using his favorite description of the United States. "It's the least you can do: resign, along with those other delinquents working in the State Department."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday reiterated Washington's support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, stressing that attempts at weakening the tribunal will not be tolerated.

Clinton said, on her behalf and on behalf of her Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit at a joint news conference in Washington, that they condemn any attempts at obstructing STL's work.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly on Wednesday attended the official hand-over ceremony of the Lebanon Megaports project to the Lebanese government.

"Sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration at the U.S. Department of Energy, the Megaports Initiative seeks to deter, detect, and interdict illicitly trafficked nuclear and radiological materials by deploying fixed, mobile and handheld detection equipment," according to a communiqué issued by the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.

The United States on Friday vowed support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, accusing Hizbullah of "intimidation" in urging a boycott.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday warned all Lebanese not to help investigators probing the 2005 killing of ex-PM Rafik Hariri, saying that such cooperation "contributes to the assault on the Resistance."

The United States on Thursday accused Syria and Iran of fuelling tensions in Lebanon with illicit arms supplies, which a top U.N. envoy warned was part of a "hurricane blowing up" in the Middle East.

New fears about Lebanon, where the government faces mounting pressure from Hizbullah, were raised at closed U.N. Security Council consultations in which the U.N. leadership again called for the disarming of "Hizbullah and other militias."

North Korea has opened an account with the global video-sharing website YouTube, uploading clips praising the isolated communist state and denying allegations that it sank a South Korean warship.

Eleven clips were found Tuesday under the name of uriminzokkiri, a North Korean government website.

North Korea's military threatened Tuesday to retaliate against South Korea over its planned naval drills this week near their disputed sea border.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said that the military would crush the naval drills with a powerful physical blow and warned all civilian ships to stay away from areas near the sea border.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has warned that the next time violence breaks out, Israel would strike directly at the Lebanese government, which he said is allowing Hizbullah to rearm.

If the Shiite party fires a rocket into Tel Aviv, "we will not run after each Hizbullah terrorist or launcher. . . . We will see it as legitimate to hit any target that belongs to the Lebanese state, not just to Hizbullah," Barak told The Washington Post.

The United States on Wednesday urged "all those wishing to deliver goods to do so through established channels so that their cargo can be inspected and transferred via land crossings into Gaza."

"As we continue to make clear to involved parties, mechanisms exist for the transfer of humanitarian assistance to Gaza," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

World Cup fever is sweeping across Asia as hundreds of millions of fans in the football-mad region count down to the start of an event that's a surefire winner for pubs, clubs and bookmakers.

From Seoul to Sydney, Beijing to Bangkok, preparations are underway for Friday's kick-off thousands of miles away in South Africa, heralding a month of late nights and bleary-eyed mornings for many Asian fans.