March 14 opposition MP Marwan Hamadeh blamed Damascus for Friday's attack on a UNIFIL patrol in the southern city of Tyre, saying it was orchestrated with the help of its ally Hizbullah.

"It is clear that Syria was behind what happened today and the messenger was Hizbullah," Hamadeh told Agence France Presse. "Nothing happens in that region without Hizbullah's approval."

A Syrian blogger who said he was tortured for expressing his opinions called on world governments Friday to step up the fight for Internet freedom, saying it makes everyone a reporter.

Access to social media has helped to expose the violent crackdown on dissent in Syria, Amjad Baiazy told a conference hosted by Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal in The Hague.

Afghan police have arrested four suspects in connection with an acid attack on a 17-year-old girl and her family, allegedly for refusing a marriage proposal, the interior ministry said Friday.

The attack in late November attracted widespread media coverage and highlighted the dangers still facing women in Afghanistan 10 years after the U.S.-led invasion ousted the repressive Taliban regime.

Star Brazilian striker Neymar said on Friday that he would never be better than Pele and insisted he was not interested in impressing his many European suitors at the Club World Cup.

The much-coveted Santos player, 19, has been touted as one of the planet's finest prospects and linked with a host of top European clubs, with Spanish giants Real Madrid understood to be leading the charge for his signature.

Kim Clijsters will take greater care over her scheduling in 2012 after injury in August brought this season to a premature end.

The four-time Grand Slam title winner suffered an abdominal strain in Toronto which ruled her out of the U.S. Open where she was the double defending champion.

Yemeni tribesmen have killed two suspected al-Qaida militants in the restive southern province of Abyan, a tribal source said on Friday.

"Our armed men killed al-Qaida fighters Abdullah Umeir and Shokri Shaher as they tried to infiltrate Mudia," a town in the province held by tribesmen, late on Thursday, the source told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

UEFA president Michel Platini spoke of his preference for human eyes over technology during the European football governing body's Executive Committee meeting here on Thursday.

Earlier this week, FIFA president Sepp Blatter gave his backing to goal-line technology but Platini remained steadfast in his opposition to the idea, claiming UEFA's solution of putting two extra officials behind the goal was preferable to going down the route of electronic aids.

Former double world champion Fernando Alonso believes that Ferrari will break Red Bull's Formula One title stranglehold "sooner rather than later".

Sebastian Vettel has taken Red Bull to back-to-back world championships, but Spanish driver Alonso came close in 2010 when only a strategic error in the Abu Dhabi finale allowed his German rival to triumph.

A brass desk set inscribed "AH" and used by Adolf Hitler at the signing of the Munich Pact, which preceded World War II, has sold for $423,000, a U.S. auction house said.

The ceremonial desk set, including ink wells and the Nazi crest of an eagle and swastika, had been expected to fetch at least half a million dollars.

Republicans and Democrats determined to look tough on Iran and avoid any election-year challenges to their pro-Israel bona fides are rebuffing Obama administration pleas to ease proposed penalties on Iran's central bank.

The administration argues that the crippling penalties would undercut a carefully calibrated international effort targeting Tehran and would drive up oil prices, a potential economic boon that would help finance Iran's suspected pursuit of a nuclear weapon while hitting cash-strapped Americans at the gas pump.