The Phalange party has yet to nominate its candidates for the parliamentary elections although its main allies in the March 14 coalition – al-Mustaqbal movement and the Lebanese Forces – registered for the polls.

An Nahar daily said Saturday that the Phalange could reject filing applications for its candidates for holding onto a decision reached in Bkirki along with the three main Christian parties not to run in the elections based on the 1960 law, which they described as “dead and buried.”

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki Friday amid anxiety over a rash of bombings and violence in the country and the situation in Syria, the White House said.

"The vice president expressed concern about the security situation in Iraq and pledged continued U.S. support for Iraq in its fight against terrorism," said a statement from Biden's office.

The United States expressed concern Friday that Lebanon could find itself dragged into Syria's civil war and expressed support for efforts by the country's army to halt an outbreak of fighting.

"The United States is deeply concerned about the situation in Lebanon," State Department deputy spokesman Patrick Ventrell said.

Guatemala extradited ex-president Alfonso Portillo to the United States on Friday to face charges of laundering $70 million, sending him on a plane under the escort of U.S. agents.

"Hasta luego (see you later), people of Guatemala," Portillo, 61, said after describing his extradition as a "kidnapping" and accusing the Guatemalan government of breaking the law.

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.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Friday announced his support for extending parliament's term, rejecting “the elections farce” and defending the army against verbal attacks from Tripoli politicians.

“Amid these bleak circumstances, I don't think that it is useful to engage in the elections farce,” said Jumblat after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain al-Tineh.

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.

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.