The United States on Wednesday "forcefully" pressed China on festering maritime rows and human rights, even as the two countries vowed to seek cooperation rather than confrontation.

Opening two days of talks between the world's two largest economic powers, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned his Chinese counterparts that it would be "unacceptable" to try to create a new status quo in the South and East China Seas, where Beijing is in dispute with its neighbors.

The FBI and National Security Agency monitored the emails of prominent Muslim-American activists, academics and a political candidate, according to a report co-authored by journalist Glenn Greenwald.

The report appearing in the online news site The Intercept said the surveillance was authorized by a secret intelligence court under procedures intended to locate spies and terrorist suspects.

France on Wednesday presented a bill aimed at strengthening anti-terrorism laws to stop increasing numbers of aspiring jihadists from traveling to fight in Syria.

The new bill, presented by Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to the council of ministers, came as a 48-year-old woman was charged under anti-terrorism laws after visiting Syria thrice where her son is fighting.

The second case within days of alleged U.S. spying in Germany on Wednesday threatened to further strain transatlantic ties already frayed by the NSA surveillance scandal.

German authorities said police had searched the Berlin-area home and office of a man who, local media reported, is a German military employee accused of passing secrets to the United States.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir on Wednesday urged rebel chief Riek Machar to restart talks to end a raging civil war between their forces that has driven the country to the brink of famine.

"Even if Riek Machar's forces still continue attacking our forces, I still renew my call for him to accept the logic of peaceful resolution," Kiir told crowds at celebrations to mark three years of independence.

Singapore on Wednesday expressed concern at the risk of militant attacks posed by local and foreign jihadists returning to Southeast Asia after fighting in Syria.

Interior Minister Teo Chee Hean said returning fighters have the skills to carry out terror attacks or support others planning them. 

A flock of geese caused the deaths of four U.S. airmen whose military helicopter crashed over a nature reserve in eastern England, investigators said Wednesday.

The U.S. Air Force HH-60 Pave Hawk, based at Lakenheath airbase, came down in Norfolk on January 7 while on a training mission.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, leading ongoing nuclear talks with Iran in Vienna, is considering asking foreign ministers to attend but no decision has been made, her spokesman said Wednesday.

Ashton "is thinking about when to engage ministers as we move forward but no decisions have been made as yet. It would be an opportunity for them to take stock of where we are in the process," spokesman Michael Mann told AFP.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tightened his grip on the reins of power Wednesday after the appointment of his most trusted aide, Amit Shah, as president of the ruling Hindu nationalist party.

Shah, who has known Modi since the 1980s in their home state of Gujarat, is seen as a shrewd political organizer and tactician credited with delivering Modi's huge election victory in May.

Both sides claimed victory Wednesday in Indonesia's tightest and most divisive presidential election since the end of authoritarian rule, as most unofficial tallies showed Jakarta governor Joko Widodo leading over ex-general Prabowo Subianto.

The standoff in the hotly contested race to lead the world's third-biggest democracy prompted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to call for restraint from both sides until official results are announced in two weeks' time.