A Chinese man accused of smuggling "highly sensitive" parts for nuclear production to Iran was extradited to Boston on Friday where he will face federal charges.

Sihai Cheng, charged alongside an Iranian man and two Iranian businesses, allegedly exported pressure sensors to Iran that could be used to manufacture nuclear weapons, a government statement said.

Vice President Joe Biden will lead a U.S. delegation to Brazil for the inauguration of President Dilma Rousseff on January 1, the White House said Friday.

Rousseff, who was re-elected for a second term in October, met Biden earlier this year when he visited for the World Cup.

Jordan's King Abdullah II warned Friday that the fight against Islamic State militants is a "third world war," as President Barack Obama pledged a sizable U.S. aid increase to his country.

As the two men met at the White House, Obama promised to increase U.S. aid to Jordan from $660 million to more than $1 billion per year.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday paid homage to South Africa's late ex-president Nelson Mandela on the first anniversary of his death as a visionary who remains an enduring source of inspiration.

"One year ago the world lost a leader whose struggle and sacrifices inspired us to stand up for our fundamental principles, whose example reminded us of the enduring need for compassion, understanding, and reconciliation, and whose vision saw the promise of a better world," Obama said in a statement.

The case files are piling up -- young black men killed by white police officers who later go uncharged -- as are questions about what the U.S. government will do about it.

Names like Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner are now chapters in the long saga of tense and often violent relations between America's black community and mainly white police forces.

Nigeria on Friday said that a decision to cancel U.S. training of its soldiers to fight Boko Haram was a logistical, not a political decision.

The U.S. Embassy in Abuja announced on Monday that the Nigerian government had halted a training program of an army battalion, which would have developed into a unit to take on the militants.

The hammering suffered by Barack Obama's Democratic party in last month's mid-term elections could have floored him out as he began his final two years as president.

Instead, he has bounced back off the ropes and come out fighting.

The White House denounced Thursday human rights violations in Gambia, calling on the government to allow U.N. experts into the country and revoke laws discriminating against homosexuals.

"The United States is deeply concerned by continued reports of human rights abuses in the Gambia," said Bernadette Meehan, National Security Council spokeswoman.

U.S. and Yemeni forces recently tried unsuccessfully to rescue an American journalist held by al-Qaida, which has now threatened to execute him, officials said Thursday.

President Barack Obama last month approved the rescue operation to free a number of hostages, including U.S. national Luke Somers, held by Al-Qaeda in Yemen, the White House and the Pentagon said.

A top American diplomat was back in Bahrain on Thursday five months after being declared "unwelcome" by the Sunni-ruled U.S. ally after he met with the Shiite opposition.

The official BNA news agency said Tom Malinowski, U.S. assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, was received in Manama by Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah al-Khalifa.