A NATO soldier was killed by an improvised bomb blast on Friday, the military said, the first coalition death in a month as international forces wind-down their operations.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement that the soldier died in an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan.

Turkey's new constitution will reduce the political influence of the once-powerful military in order to steer the EU-hopeful country more on the path of democracy, a parliamentary source said Friday.

The army, considered the self-appointed guardian of Turkish secularism, has intervened in politics since 1960 and has staged four coups. Since coming to power in 2002, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has taken steps to curb the power of the military.

Five people, including two suicide bombers, died Friday in car bombings in northern Mali, a day after fierce urban battles between French-led forces and Islamists left up to 20 extremists dead, officials said.

Two kamikaze vehicles targeting civilians and members of the ethnic Tuareg rebel group the MNLA exploded near the town of Tessalit, killing three and wounding several others, a security source said.

Bangladesh police fired live rounds on Friday in fierce clashes with Islamists demanding the execution of bloggers they accuse of blasphemy, killing at least four people and injuring about 200.

Two people were shot dead by police in the northwestern town of Palashbari, and two others died elsewhere, police told Agence France Presse.

Maoist rebels killed six policemen Friday in a landmine attack in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, the second deadly ambush by the insurgents against security forces in recent weeks, police said.

"The Maoists targeted a convoy heading out on patrol duty killing six policemen in Gaya district," district police chief N. H. Khan told AFP by telephone.

Pope Benedict XVI's final Sunday prayers in St Peter's Square will signal the start of a week in the Vatican that will make history with the first voluntary papal resignation in more than 700 years.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims have gathered in Rome from around the world following the aging pope's shock announcement that he would step down because he no longer had the strength of body and mind to govern the Catholic Church in modern times.

Parliamentary polls in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti opened peacefully Friday, residents said, with opposition groups joining forces to challenge the ruling party.

This is the first poll since 2003 in which opposition groups have decided to forge a coalition together, taking part as the Union for National Safety (USN).

A major thunderstorm on Friday flooded roads and homes in Athens, causing massive gridlock across the Greek capital and knocking out parts of its metro network, authorities said.

The fire department said it had received some 700 calls to drain water from houses and businesses as ankle-high water filled the city's streets.

Nigerian security forces were in a "massive manhunt" Friday for seven members of a kidnapped French family after Paris said the abductors had likely separated the victims into two groups.

"As long as there are rumors of their cross-border movements, then security agencies must be intensely searching for them," police spokesman Frank Mba told Agence France Presse, adding that there was a "massive manhunt."

Militant Islamists told Indian police interrogators last year of plans for a possible attack in the area of Hyderabad where twin blasts killed 14 people, a senior police official said Friday.

"We interrogated two militants (from the Indian Mujahideen group), who said they had monitored various spots in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune for a possible attack. One of the places they mentioned was Dilsukh Nagar, which was hit last night," S.N. Shrivastava, a Delhi police commissioner, told Agence France Presse.