Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Washington's Holocaust Memorial on Monday to hail a rare hero of Japan's brutal World War II past.

Previously, Abe has faced criticism for his allegedly revisionist views of Japan's own war-time behavior.

North Korea has increased its "material support" for terrorist organizations and should be placed back on America's list of nations that are state sponsors of terrorism, a report released Monday said.

The Pyongyang regime, at the time under the command of Kim Jong-il, was taken off the list in 2008 under the presidency of George W. Bush, who hoped to engage the reclusive nation in dialogue. 

Ex-PM Saad Hariri held talks Friday with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in Washington and noted that his Mustaqbal movement is fighting the “extremism” of Hizbullah and other groups.

A statement issued by Hariri's office said the White House meeting focused on the situation in Lebanon and the latest developments in the region, “particularly what is happening in Syria, Iraq and Yemen."

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said that the main objective of his visit to the United States is to safeguard Lebanon from the regional repercussions, urging for a quick solution for the Syrian crisis and the burden of refugees flocking into Lebanon.

“The objective of my visit to the United States is related to protecting Lebanon from the regional crises and their repercussions,” said Hariri after meeting members of the Foreign Relations Committee in the House of Representatives led by State Senator Ed Royce.

Malaysia has called for China to cooperate with Southeast Asia in speeding up talks on a set of rules in the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing's island-building activities have sparked international alarm.

Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, whose country hosts a regional summit next week, also cautioned rival claimants to the strategic seaway against taking actions that stoke tensions, according to an interview published Thursday in The Star.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday kicked off a visit to Washington, where he announced that his political camp is trying to spare Lebanon any repercussions from the “drastic disputes” with Hizbullah.

“We must exert efforts to end the rift and elect a president for Lebanon,” said Hariri after talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in the U.S. capital.

The United States branded a FARC attack that killed 11 Colombian soldiers "brutal" Friday and accused the Marxist guerrillas of violating their unilateral ceasefire.

The attack on Tuesday-Wednesday came as the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are in peace talks that have been under way in Havana since November 2012 in a bid to end more than five decades of conflict that have killed over 200,000 people.

Mass killings? Mutual bloodletting? Genocide? The hundreds of thousands of dead have been silent for a century, but generations on, Armenians are still battling to get the World War I slaying of their ancestors recognized as a genocide.

As Armenians around the world gear up to mark 100 years since the start of the slaughter on April 24, the struggle to get the world -- and above all Turkey -- to use the term "genocide" remains deeply divisive.  

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri is expected to travel to Washington on Monday for a one week visit, al-Joumhouria daily reported.

The agenda of his trip is still not complete, the newspaper said Friday.

A man flying a mini helicopter illegally landed his aircraft on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, triggering street closures around the building and prompting a police investigation.

"The U.S. Capitol Police continues to investigate, with one person detained," USCP officer Shennell Antrobus told AFP.