Hundreds of Afghan demonstrators on Saturday marched to the parliament complex in the capital Kabul demanding U.S. special forces withdraw from Wardak province after allegations of abuse.

President Hamid Karzai ordered elite U.S. units to pull out of the strategic province after he alleged that U.S. soldiers and Afghan militia working with them had tortured and murdered civilians.

A small plane crashed into a parking lot near a South Florida airport Friday afternoon, killing all three people on board and burning about a dozen vehicles. No one on the ground was hurt.

Fire-Rescue Division Chief John San Angelo said the Piper Navajo, a twin-engine turboprop, began experiencing engine trouble shortly after taking off from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport at about 4:30 p.m.

A federal court ruled Friday the CIA can no longer refuse to confirm or deny whether it has records related to drone strikes, in a blow to the government's secrecy over the bombing campaign.

The Court of Appeals for Washington DC said the government's stance was no longer credible as President Barack Obama and a senior adviser had publicly acknowledged the drone attacks on al-Qaida suspects abroad.

The U.S. military will deploy an additional 14 anti-missile interceptors in Alaska in response to a mounting threat from nuclear-armed North Korea, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday.

The United States already has 30 interceptors in place in California and Alaska and the additional weaponry would be fielded by 2017, the Pentagon chief told reporters.

Gunmen in military uniforms attacked the house of an Iraqi anti-Qaida militia leader north of Baghdad on Friday, killing him and three of his sons, a police officer and a doctor said.

The gunmen bound their hands and killed Khalil al-Ajili and one of his sons in the house near Baquba, a police lieutenant colonel said, adding the other two tried to escape but were killed in a nearby field.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his center-right partners have overcome differences with rightwing factions to pave the way for an accord on a new government on Friday, reports said.

Media outlets said that Yair Lapid, head of Yesh Atid, and Naftali Bennett of Jewish Homeland renounced their demands for the post of deputy prime minister, a key obstacle to finalizing a coalition agreement.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday said he had no plans for "immediately" releasing an Israeli jailed for spying who has been in prison since 1985, saying he was guilty of "a very serious crime."

"I have no plans for releasing Jonathan Pollard immediately," he said in an exclusive interview with Israel's private Channel 2 television, broadcast a week before the U.S. leader arrives on a historic three-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

An Iranian fighter jet tried to intercept a U.S. Predator drone over the Gulf but backed off after encountering two American military aircraft, the Pentagon said Thursday.

No shots were fired in the confrontation Wednesday, officials said, but the United States renewed a vow that it would protect its forces in the region.

It will take Iran "over a year or so" to develop a nuclear weapon, U.S. President Barack Obama told Israel's Channel 2 television a week before he pays a historic visit to the Jewish state.

"We think that it would take over a year or so for Iran to actually develop a nuclear weapon, but obviously, we don't want to cut it too close," he said in an exclusive interview with the private TV station.

China's new President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama held telephone talks Thursday on the expansion of ties, cyber-security and the situation in North Korea, state media reported.

Obama congratulated Xi on his new appointment after he was named president by China's parliament and said U.S.-China relations faced an historic opportunity for future cooperation, the Xinhua news agency said.