The United States is considering targeted sanctions against Syrian officials to respond to "completely deplorable" violence used by Damascus's forces to crush dissent, an official said Monday.

Signs of a more muscular U.S. response to violence in Syria followed an assault by Syrian troops backed by tanks in the flashpoint town of Daraa, which killed at least 25 people, as a building crackdown reached new heights.

Syrian troops backed by tanks stormed the flashpoint town of Daraa on Monday killing at least 25 people, witnesses said, as a leading rights activist accused Damascus of opting for a "military solution" to crush dissent.

Troops also launched assaults on the towns of Douma and al-Muadamiyah near Damascus, witnesses said, as the head of the U.N. human rights agency slammed what she said was the Syrian security forces' disregard for human life.

A disgruntled fan Monday emerged as the prime suspect behind a mystery explosion at the Russian equivalent of "Big Brother", which claims to be the world's longest-running television reality show.

The blast early Sunday morning rocked the grounds where "Dom-2" (House-2) is filmed, wounding a security guard. Police later uncovered another more powerful device on the premises which was then made safe.

Syria on Monday sealed off its border with Jordan, the kingdom's information minister Taher Adwan said, hours after troops backed by tanks swept into the Syrian southern flashpoint town Daraa.

"Syria closed its land borders with Jordan. The Syrian decision is related to the internal situation in Syria," Adwan told the state-run Petra news agency.

Nintendo said Monday it would release a new console next year to succeed its popular Wii, as it reported earnings slumped due to the strong yen and its 3D handheld player came too late to give a lift.

The video game giant said the new machine would be showcased at E3 Expo in Los Angeles in June. The move comes as Nintendo has struggled to reverse its sliding fortunes in an increasingly crowded market.

A galaxy of colorful animal and human sketches adorn the caves in the rocky hills of this arid wilderness in northern Somalia, home to Africa's earliest known and most pristine rock art.

But in a region ravaged by two decades of relentless civil unrest and lawlessness, the archeological site is at risk of destruction, looting and clandestine excavation.

U.S. evangelist Franklin Graham thinks the second coming of Jesus Christ could be a social media event captured by millions of mobile phones.

"The Bible says that every eye is going to see it" and that Christ will "come on the clouds," Graham, the oldest son of preacher Billy Graham, who used the media to make Christian evangelism a global phenomenon, told ABC News presenter Christiane Amanpour, host of "This Week."

World number one Rafael Nadal created more history on Sunday when he became the only man to win two tournaments more than six times after defeating David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4 in the Barcelona Open final.

The Spanish top seed, with 34 consecutive victories on clay, repeated his victory a week ago when he beat Ferrer for a seventh Monte Carlo trophy.

More than 800 Belgian bar owners and their supporters demonstrated Saturday against a decision to widen a smoking ban in public spaces to cover all cafes and the kingdom's nine casinos from July 1.

The demonstration in Brussels was organized by the federation of cafe owners and restaurateurs, which claims that 4,000-5,000 of the country's 12,000 cafes are threatened with closure by the new legislation.

The United States held hundreds of inmates who were either totally innocent or low-risk for years and released dozens of "high-risk" Guantanamo inmates, according to leaked classified files.

The new leaks reveal that inmates were held without trial on the basis of often seriously flawed information, such as from mentally ill or otherwise unreliable co-detainees or statements from suspects who had been abused or tortured, The New York Times reported.