Syrian troops have captured much of the rebel stronghold of Qusayr, in central Homs province, squeezing opposition fighters into the north of the strategic town, a military officer told Agence France Presse on Friday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said regime forces backed by members of Hizbullah were bombing northern areas of the city, encircling rebel fighters there.

Nigerian authorities said Friday they had freed three women and six children abducted by Islamist extremist group Boko Haram as part of an ongoing military operation targeting the extremists.

The group was abducted on May 7 during an attack on the town of Bama in the country's northeast, according to Defense Spokesman Brigadier General Chris Olukolade. Two children and one woman remain missing, he said.

A clash between Colombian army and rebel forces left five combatants dead, the army said in a statement Friday, marking the latest fighting despite ongoing peace talks between the two sides.

The battle Thursday in northern Antioquia department left three army soldiers dead and three wounded.

President Barack Obama said Friday that members of the military guilty of sexual assaults threatened to undermine the trust and discipline vital to the strength of the U.S. military machine.

Obama delivered the warning at a graduation ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, following a spate of reports of sexual violence and abuse in various branches of the military.

North Korea Friday accused South Korean President Park Geun-Hye of hurting the dignity of its leadership and slammed her as "a confrontation maniac".

The warning came a day after Park denounced North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un for "playing a gamble to escalate tension" on the Korean peninsula.

The United States, Turkey and Qatar called Friday for an urgent debate on Syria at the U.N.'s top human rights body next week, citing the escalating conflict and the regime's assault on the central town of Qusayr.

"We ... request the Human Rights Council to hold an urgent debate on the deteriorating situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic, and the recent killings in al-Qusayr," the ambassadors of the three countries wrote in their request to council president Remigiusz Henczel.

British police arrested two men on a Pakistan International Airlines plane after fighter jets were scrambled to escort it to a London airport on Friday following an "incident".

Police said the men were detained on suspicion of endangering an aircraft after the plane, which was carrying 300 passengers from the Pakistani city of Lahore to Manchester in northwest England, was diverted to Stansted airport outside London.

The Arab League must "apologize" and cancel its resolutions on Syria before it can consider playing any role in ending the conflict in the country, Syria's information minister said on Friday.

"The attempt by some Arab regimes to talk about finding a role for themselves in (resolving the conflict in) Syria is absurd and impossible," state news agency SANA quoted Omran al-Zohbi as saying.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet his Russian and French counterparts in Paris on Monday ahead of an expected international conference on ending Syria's conflict, officials said.

Kerry and Sergei Lavrov will meet "to continue discussions from their meeting just a few weeks ago in Russia, and provide updates as they plan ahead for the international conference on Syria," a State Department official said in a statement Friday.

A Spanish judge Friday ordered an investigation into the tax affairs of King Juan Carlos's youngest daughter, Princess Cristina, adding to the woes of the scandal-hit royal family.

A judge in Palma de Mallorca demanded the tax authorities provide him with a report on Cristina's property and non-property assets, investment funds, financial assets and deposits, a copy of the order showed.