A man accused of sending more than 27 million spam messages to Facebook users faces federal fraud and computer tampering charges that could send him to prison for more than 40 years, according to a grand jury indictment.

Sanford Wallace, the self-proclaimed "Spam King," pleaded not guilty during an initial court appearance Thursday after being indicted July 6 on six counts of electronic mail fraud, three counts of intentional damage to a protected computer and two counts of criminal contempt.

A colossal, 4,000-year-old statue of a seated Egyptian pharaoh will be visiting The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for the next ten years.

The Met announced Friday that the sculpture is going on loan from a Berlin museum that is renovating a courtyard where the piece was most recently displayed.

The State Department on Friday urged Americans in Syria to leave the country immediately and advised those who remain in the country to restrict their movements, as the Syrian government intensified a violent crackdown on opposition protesters.

The warning came as congressional calls grew for the Obama administration to impose severe new sanctions on President Bashar Assad's regime.

Islamist forces pulled out of many of their bases in the Somali capital of Mogadishu overnight, government and rebel spokesmen said Saturday.

"The information we are receiving is that there is a retreat from the city. This is a golden victory for the Somali people and we are committed to ensure that peace and order is restored to those areas," said government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman.

Activists said Saturday that at least 24 Syrian civilians have been killed as security forces fired on anti-government protesters as part of a nationwide crackdown.

Syria-based rights activist Mustafa Osso said most of the deaths occurred in Damascus suburbs during daytime Friday protests and late night demonstrations following evening Ramadan prayers.

The Japanese city of Hiroshima marked the 66th anniversary of the bombing on Saturday, as the nation fights a different kind of disaster from atomic technology — a nuclear plant in a meltdown crisis after being hit by a tsunami.

The site of the world's first A-bomb attack observed a moment of silence at 8:15 a.m. Saturday (2315 GMT Friday) — the time the bomb was dropped on Aug. 6, 1945, by the United States in the last stages of World War II.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday that he has asked legislators to give him permission to return to Cuba for a second round of chemotherapy for his cancer.

The National Assembly's secretariat announced that the body would hold a special session Saturday to vote on authorization for Chavez to leave the country.

An explosion struck an oil pipeline in Iran's oil-rich southwestern province of Khuzestan early Friday, triggering a blaze that took firefighters hours to put out, news agencies reported.

Abdohossein Rezaeizadeh, spokesman for the provinces' branch of the Iranian national oil company, told the official IRNA news agency that the causes of the blast and the subsequent fire were under investigation.

It could have picked London or Hong Kong. Instead, the lingerie retailer that styles itself "the original sex symbol" chose the buttoned-down sheikdom of Abu Dhabi for the launch of its first international store.

Frederick's of Hollywood, famed for its curve-cinching corsets and provocative push-up bras, opened up to little fanfare in the Emirati capital last weekend. Another outpost offering the chain's racy lingerie is set to open soon up the road in more freewheeling Dubai.

British media said Friday that actor Rowan Atkinson, famed for his "Mr. Bean" television shows and films, is recovering in hospital after crashing his supercar.

The 56-year-old comedian, also known for the "Blackadder" historical comedy shows, was expected to be discharged on Friday after treatment for a shoulder injury, the Daily Mirror reported.