At least six Pakistani soldiers were killed in clashes after militants attacked a checkpost in the country's lawless tribal northwest on Wednesday, officials said.

Dozens of militants armed with rockets and grenades stormed the checkpost in Surang Baba Ziarat village, around 30 kilometers north of Wana, the main town of South Waziristan tribal district, a senior security official in Peshawar told Agence France Presse.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Wednesday the importance of swiftly completing the necessary steps to launch oil exploration off Lebanon’s shore.

“This vital issue shouldn’t be delayed,” Berri told MPs during his weekly meeting with lawmakers.

Iran "will never stop" its controversial uranium enrichment, the country's envoy to the IAEA said on Tuesday, on the sidelines of a Non-Aligned Movement ministerial meeting in Tehran.

"Our enrichment activities will never stop and we are justified in carrying them out, and we will continue to do so under IAEA supervision," Ali Asghar Soltanieh told reporters.

The United States said Monday that the Syrian opposition's first priority should be to coordinate and set a democratic path after France called for the quick formation of a provisional government.

President Francois Hollande, stepping up pressure on Syria in a speech to French diplomats, pledged that France would recognize a provisional government as soon as it is formed and urged the rebels to be inclusive.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly on Monday met Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Grand Serail and discussed with him “the political and security situation in Lebanon and regional events,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.

“The Ambassador welcomed the release of kidnapped Lebanese Hussein Ali Omar over the weekend. She condemned the kidnapping of any individuals based on nationality, sect, ethnicity or for criminal gain and called for their immediate release,” said the statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to make a rare foray to the South Pacific this week, in a move analysts say is aimed at curbing China's growing influence among the region's small island nations.

While Clinton's previous trips to the area have focused on Canberra and Wellington, this time she is expected to visit the Cook Islands, a nation of just 11,000 people whose 15 islands cover an area barely larger than Washington DC.

A strengthening Tropical Storm Isaac barreled toward Florida and was predicted to become a hurricane on Sunday, forcing a one-day delay to the main events of the Republican convention, after leaving four people dead in Haiti.

With winds reaching 65 miles (100 kilometers) per hour, the storm left Haiti and swept across Cuba late Saturday, with the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center reporting it would probably reach Florida later in the day.

U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon, has died, U.S. media reported Saturday. He was 82.

Armstrong underwent cardiac bypass surgery, earlier this month after doctors found blockages in his coronary arteries. He and fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, before the eyes of hundreds of millions of awed television viewers worldwide.

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut on Friday said it was “very concerned by the continuing violence in Tripoli,” adding that “Assad regime officials should be held accountable for involvement in alleged attempts to destabilize Lebanon.”

The embassy expressed its “sincere condolences for the loss of life,” calling on all parties to “exercise restraint and respect for Lebanese security and stability.”

U.S. President Barack Obama leads his Republican rival Mitt Romney in the battleground of Ohio, but the race has tightened in two other key states ahead of the November 6 elections, according to a poll out Thursday.

Obama continues to enjoy a 6-point advantage in Ohio with 50 percent compared to 44 percent for Romney, according to the Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll.