Saudi Arabian forces have taken control of a mountain straddling the border with Yemen and cleared it of Shiite rebels, in five days of fighting that saw three soldiers killed and 15 wounded, the assistant defense minister said on Sunday.

Britain called for consideration of a global tax on financial transactions to insure against another crisis and urged world finance officials meeting Saturday in Scotland to agree on bearing the cost of fighting climate change.

Russia could back sanctions against Iran if it fails to take a constructive stance in international talks over its nuclear program, President Dmitry Medvedev said in remarks released Saturday.

Senior Iranian lawmakers rejected on Saturday any possibility of Tehran shipping uranium abroad for further enrichment, intensifying pressures on the government to reject the U.N.-backed plan altogether.

U.S. President Barack Obama, set to undertake a visit to China this month to boost warming ties, will stay firm on the U.S. policy of supporting but not recognizing Taiwan, an aide said Friday.

Afghanistan's Defense Ministry said Saturday that a NATO airstrike in the western province of Badghis mistakenly hit a joint base housing coalition troops and Afghan security forces, killing four Afghan soldiers and three policemen.

French police conducted a nationwide search Friday for a security driver who vanished with euro11 million (US$7.4 million) in cash from a bank in the central city of Lyon, authorities said.

A top Pentagon official says President Barack Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan will be certain to include reinforcements of foreign troops.

Saudi forces battled Yemeni rebels on the oil kingpin's border with its impoverished neighbor, both sides said on Saturday, with the rebels claiming to have captured Saudi ground troops inside Yemeni territory.

Afghanistan accused the United Nations on Saturday of intervening in the formation of President Hamid Karzai's next cabinet, less than a week into his new term.