A Saudi policeman and an armed protester were killed in overnight clashes in the Eastern Province, the interior ministry announced on Saturday.

"A security patrol came under heavy gunfire from four armed rioters on motorbikes" in Qatif, ministry spokesman Mansur al-Turki was quoted by official news agency SPA as saying.

U.S. health officials on Friday warned the public to be careful around pigs after an outbreak of flu among visitors to county fairs.

The virus does not appear to have evolved to the point where it spreads easily among humans, but it does contain a gene from the pandemic H1N1 flu that sickened millions worldwide in 2009 and 2010.

Syrian television presenter Mohammed al-Saeed, kidnapped from his Damascus home in mid-July, has been executed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.

"The television presenter, a well-known figure on state TV, has been executed, and the al-Nusra Front has claimed responsibility for the killing," the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse.

At a packed Hanoi restaurant, one of Vietnam's growing ranks of proud pooch owners tucks into a traditional delicacy to mark the end of the lunar month -- a plate of juicy dog.

Canine meat has long been on the menu in Vietnam. But now a growing love of the four-legged friends means that one man's pet can be another's dog sausage -- quite literally as far as dog bandits are concerned.

A fire that broke out at Iran's biggest petrochemical plant killed at least one person and injured 15 others before it was put out, Iranian media reported on Saturday.

The blaze at the Bandar Imam petrochemical complex, in the southwestern city of Mahshahr, occurred on Friday and was caused by a gas leak in a feeding line, according to the Shana news agency belonging to Iran's oil ministry.

A newly discovered Australian spider measuring little more than a millimeter in length has been named after celebrated British scientist and broadcaster David Attenborough, reports said Saturday.

The minuscule arachnid, which is found only on Horn Island, in Australia's Torres Strait, was named prethopalpus attenboroughi by its discoverers, according to Alec Coles, head of the Western Australian Museum.

The U.S. economy created a solid 163,000 jobs in July, helping President Barack Obama dull Republican attacks despite a slight uptick in the jobless rate.

The Labor Department said Friday that unemployment rose 0.1 points to 8.3 percent, in a monthly report that was nevertheless heralded as evidence that the world's largest economy is still on track.

Wojdan Shaherkani became the first ever Saudi Arabian woman to compete at the Olympic Games on Friday and almost stole French heavyweight champion Teddy Riner's thunder.

Riner is the biggest star in the sport and has been totally dominant in the top men's division since the last Games.

At least 13 people were killed across Syria on Saturday as fierce fighting raged in Aleppo and Damascus, the country's two biggest cities, a rights group said.

Overnight in Aleppo, rebel forces withdrew from the district of Izaa where the state television building is situated, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

American swimming icon Michael Phelps will bring the curtain down on his glittering Olympic career Saturday as attention turns to track and field and the most eagerly anticipated 100m in history.

After a slow start to his campaign, Phelps could well sign off with his fourth gold medal of the Games as he aims to consolidate his position as the most decorated Olympian in history.