Philippine President Benigno Aquino visited a southern city infiltrated by Muslim rebels Friday, vowing to end the crisis and warning the gunmen against harming civilian hostages or resorting to flagrant destruction.

Aquino urged the port city of Zamboanga to stand firm as Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) fighters battled troops and set fire to homes for a fifth day in a bid to derail efforts to end a long Muslim rebellion.

Thirty-seven people were killed when a fire swept through a wooden psychiatric hospital in northwest Russia overnight Thursday, in the latest tragedy to hit the country's mental health institutions.

The fire was started by a patient who was either smoking or deliberately set fire to his bed at the hospital in the village of Luka, 220 kilometers (137 miles) southeast of Saint Petersburg, officials said.

Seven heavily armed Taliban suicide attackers struck the U.S. consulate in the Afghan city of Herat before dawn on Friday, setting off two car bombs and sparking a shootout with U.S. forces.

The sophisticated attack in the western city, a key business hub near the Iranian border, underscored how the Taliban are able to strike outside their main centers in the south and east.

Al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a speech marking the 12th anniversary of 9/11, called Thursday for attacks on the United States and a boycott of the world's largest economy.

A summary and translated English excerpts of the roughly 72-minute address was made available by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Turkish police used water cannon and tear gas late Thursday to break up fresh anti-government protests in Istanbul, amid anger over the death of a demonstrator earlier in the week.

Officers faced 2,000-3,000 angry protesters on a second consecutive day of demonstrations in the Kadikoy district, an opposition stronghold.

Police in Colombia seized 950 kilograms (2,100 pounds) of cocaine in a drug processing laboratory allegedly run by FARC rebels, officials said Thursday.

The drugs, ready for distribution, were confiscated in the country's southwestern Cauca department after a confrontation with guerrillas who managed to flee the scene.

A two-day meeting of high street clothing brands and pressure groups aimed at reaching a compensation deal for victims of two Bangladesh factory disasters ended Thursday in failure, organizers said.

The Geneva talks came after a building housing garment factories collapsed in Bangladesh in April, killing more than 1,100 people. They were aimed at agreeing compensation for the families of those victims and those of other factory disasters.

Leaks from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden have generated a much needed debate about surveillance even though his disclosures have jeopardized national security, America's spy chief said Thursday.

"As loathe as I am to give any credit for what's happened here, which is egregious..." said National Intelligence Director James Clapper, "I think it's clear that some of the conversations that this has generated, some of the debate... actually probably needed to happen."

Police arrested about 100 women who blocked an intersection outside the U.S. Congress Thursday as part of a protest in favor of immigration reform, organizers said.

Police would not specify how many women were arrested, saying they were still being booked.

A Chinese court Thursday sentenced three people to death and another to 25 years in jail over violent unrest in the ethnically-divided Xinjiang region in which dozens were killed, state media reported.

China labeled the June 26 riots as a "violent terrorist attack", a charge rights groups say is often used to justify the authorities' use of force against the mostly Muslim Uighur minority, and reacted by vowing to crack down on such incidents.