The Pentagon's new chief hosted Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday for talks after having faced allegations from some U.S. senators that he was too critical of the Jewish state.

For his first meeting with a foreign counterpart, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who was sworn in last week, chose to meet Barak, apparently in a bid to reassure America's ally and its advocates in Washington over his stance towards Israel.

Two powerful winter storms blanketed huge swaths of the central United States Monday and threatened to bury much of the northern portion of the country in the coming days.

"It's a pretty good sized mass of storms," said Pat Slattery of the National Weather Service. "It's going to be around for a while."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday pledged to ask President Barack Obama to free an Israeli spy jailed since 1985 when the U.S. leader visits Jerusalem later this month.

"This issue will come up during President Obama's visit," the prime minister's office quoted him as saying in a meeting with the wife of Jonathan Pollard, serving a life sentence for espionage in the United States.

U.S. Ambassador Maura Connelly expressed concern on Monday over the security situation in Lebanon and along its border, stressing that the parliamentary elections should be held on time.

“I share the concern about the security situation within Lebanon and along its borders,” Connelly said after talks with Speaker Nabih Berri.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged on Saturday Egypt's government and opposition to make "meaningful compromises" to end the political divide threatening the country's economy.

"There must be a willingness on all sides to make meaningful compromises on the issues that matter most to the Egyptian people," Kerry, who is on a visit to Cairo, said in a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Mohammed Kamel Amr.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday that Egypt's crumbling economy must "get back on its feet," while on a visit to Cairo aimed at pressing deeply divided parties to reach a political consensus.

"It is paramount, essential, urgent that the Egyptian economy gets stronger, that it gets back on its feet," Kerry told a meeting of business leaders.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Cairo on Saturday for talks with the leaders of Egypt and their opposition, amid political turmoil and a crippling economic crisis.

Kerry, who arrived from Turkey, is due to hold talks with Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, as well as political parties, business leaders and civil society groups during his two-day visit.

Russia said on Friday that decisions made at a Friends of Syria meeting in Rome this week, which saw the United States pledge direct aid to Syrian rebels, encouraged "extremists" who want to seize power by force.

"The decisions made in Rome as well as the statements, both in letter and spirit, give direct encouragement to extremists to take power by force, despite the unavoidable suffering of ordinary Syrians," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Israeli supporters of Jonathan Pollard, the American jailed as an Israeli spy, plan protests calling for his release ahead of President Barack Obama's visit next month an organizer said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Jerusalem city council moved to award a medal to Pollard, who is serving a life sentence.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday the United States and France were mulling ways to speed up political transition in war-torn Syria, which would be discussed in a "Friends of Syria" meeting in Rome.

"We are examining ways to accelerate the political transition,", Kerry said, addressing a joint press conference with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. He said this would be discussed at the Rome meeting Thursday.