The United States Sunday welcomed Turkey's decision to reduce its purchases of oil from neighboring Iran by 20 percent.

"I was encouraged to hear Turkey's announcement that it will significantly reduce crude oil imports from Iran," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a press conference in Istanbul where she attended a "Friends of Syria" conference.

The United States wants "concrete results" at talks between Iran and world powers on April 13 in Istanbul on Tehran's nuclear program, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday.

"Our policy is one of prevention, not containment," Clinton told a press conference in the Saudi capital after talks with her Gulf Arab counterparts, confirming the venue would be Istanbul as preferred by Iran.

U.S. regulators on Friday rejected an appeal by environmental groups to ban an industrial chemical known as bisphenol-A, saying there was not enough scientific evidence of harm in humans.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) however said its latest ruling on the petition brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) was not the final word and expressed support for further research on the safety of BPA.

The United States and Gulf Arab states on Saturday urged envoy Kofi Annan to produce a "timeline for next steps" in his peace plan for Syria if President Bashar Assad fails to stop the bloodshed.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who met her counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman at a meeting in Riyadh, voiced concern over Syria's continued deadly crackdown on dissent.

Three people will share a record $640 million U.S. lottery jackpot, organizers announced Saturday, confirming that the winning tickets were sold in the states of Illinois, Kansas and Maryland.

"Three tickets matched all six numbers in the Friday, March 30, Mega Millions drawing," the company said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton geared up for talks in Saudi Arabia on Saturday about plans for a Gulf missile shield against Iran and ways to press Tehran's ally Syria to stop killing Syrians.

After meeting King Abdullah and other Saudis in Riyadh on Friday, Clinton was to consult with her counterparts from Saudi Arabia and its five Gulf Arab neighbors, all of them U.S. allies.

The United States hit Syria's defense minister and two other senior military figures with sanctions Friday, ramping pressure on Bashar al-Assad's regime as U.N. efforts failed to halt violence.

The Treasury Department announced measures against Dawoud Rajiha as well as the army's deputy chief of staff and the head of presidential security.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Riyadh Friday for talks with Saudi leaders as she kicked off a two-country tour aimed at raising pressure on the Syrian regime, the U.S. embassy there said.

"Mrs. Clinton has arrived in Riyadh for talks with senior Saudi officials," an embassy spokesman said.

A U.S. district-court judge has awarded insurers $9.4 billion after entering a final judgment against Hizbullah in a lawsuit over the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that left almost 3,000 people dead.

U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels in the Southern District of New York said Hizbullah must pay the damages to insurers that sought to recoup payments to business and property policyholders for losses from the attacks.

Two top U.S. generals will on Wednesday hold talks with the Pakistan army chief in the first such meeting since air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers four months ago, the Pakistan army said.

General James Mattis, the head of U.S. Central Command, and General John Allen, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, had arrived in Pakistan and would meet army chief General Ashfaq Kayani later Wednesday, a Pakistani official said.