Panicked passengers fled Washington's main train station Friday after a security officer shot a man who had stabbed a woman, in what police said appeared to be a domestic incident.

The incident -- which sparked a brief panic at Union Station -- came on the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, when U.S. authorities are on high alert, especially across the capital city. 

The United States put three senior members of Hamas, a senior commander and two leaders freed by Israel in exchange for captive soldier Gilad Shalit, on its "terror" blacklist Tuesday. 

The State Department said Yehia Sinwar, Rawhi Mushtaha and the Palestinian group's military commander Mohammed Deif had been named "specially designated global terrorists" under U.S. law.

U.S. President Barack Obama has stressed the importance of better intelligence cooperation between Washington and Tel Aviv to stop Hizbullah from obtaining more missiles with which to target Israel.

“As much intelligence cooperation and sharing as we’re already doing, we need to do better if we want to stop Hizbullah from continuing to get missiles that can be trained on Tel Aviv,” Obama told The Forward, a newspaper published in New York for a Jewish-American audience, in an interview.

Syrian President Bashar Assad described on Tuesday as "legitimate" the presence of fighters from Hizbullah in Syria to back his forces against anti-regime gunmen.

"The difference (between Hizbullah and foreign anti-regime fighters) is legitimacy. Who invited Hizbullah to Syria?" Assad asked. 

President Barack Obama declared an emergency Friday for wildfire-ravaged Washington state, as Australia and New Zealand sent firefighters to help U.S. crews struggling to contain deadly blazes across America's drought-stricken West.

Obama's declaration releases federal funds to help in relief efforts in the northwestern state, where several fires are burning out of control and three firefighters have been killed.

President Barack Obama wrote in a letter to Congress that the U.S. will uphold sanctions targeting Iran's non-nuclear activities, such as its support for Hizbullah.

Obama promised Democratic lawmakers that the U.S. will continue to keep economic pressure on Iran — and keep military options open — if his administration's nuclear deal with Tehran goes through.

The United States denounced Egypt's newly expanded counterterrorism law Tuesday, expressing concern about its potential impact on human rights in the country, a military ally of the U.S.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi signed a law Sunday that would expand the government's surveillance powers and, according to critics, muzzle dissent and target critics.

The United States has warned Beijing about Chinese agents it says are operating secretly in the U.S. to pressure fugitives to return to China, The New York Times reported Sunday.

Citing unnamed U.S. officials, the Times said the effort, part of Beijing's global manhunt dubbed Operation Fox Hunt, sought to repatriate fugitives wanted for corruption and other misdeeds and recover illicit funds.

President Barack Obama's administration vowed to press ahead with a half-billion-dollar mission to train Syrian opposition fighters Tuesday, despite fears that its initial failures have dented U.S. credibility. 

After the routing of a 54-strong U.S.-trained force by al-Qaida allied rebels, Pentagon spokeswoman Commander Elissa Smith told Agence France Presse there was no plan to pause or scale back the program.

With tense bilateral ties recently renewed after five decades, and top U.S. diplomat John Kerry due in Havana in days, Cuba briefly detained about 90 activists on Sunday.

Cuban security forces rounded up about 50 protesters with the Ladies in White dissident group and around 40 other activists, some wearing masks with the image of U.S. President Barack Obama, according to an Agence France Presse reporter.