Al-Watan, Syria's only privately-owned political daily, was added to a European Union sanctions blacklist on Friday for its alleged role in a state crackdown on dissent.

In an expanded blacklist of companies and individuals, the EU included Al-Watan and website Sham Press, also privately owned, but did not add state-run newspapers Tishrin, Al-Baath and Al-Thawra.

The oil-rich United Arab Emirates on Friday celebrated the 40th anniversary of its establishment with parades, musical shows and ceremonies across the seven-member federation.

The president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan who is also ruler of Abu Dhabi, the richest member, vowed in a speech to widen the participation of "citizens in public affairs."

The U.N.'s human rights chief called Friday for Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court over allegations that its crackdown on opposition protesters has led to crimes against humanity.

Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said fresh reports from the country — including that 307 children have been killed since March — reinforced the need for the Security Council to submit the situation in Syria to the Hague-based court.

Mutinous soldiers have attacked a Syrian air force intelligence base in the northwestern province of Idlib, killing eight people, a rights group said on Friday.

"A group of deserters attacked an air force intelligence center... killing eight people from the base," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement received in Nicosia.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden urged Syria's Bashar Assad to quit, in a Turkish newspaper interview published Friday, adding to growing global pressure on the regime over its crackdown on dissidents.

"The United States' position on Syria is clear. The Syrian regime must end its brutality against its own people and President Assad must step down so a peaceful transition that respects the will of the people can take place," Biden told the Hurriyet daily.

French authorities have increased security for Syrian opposition members based in France who have come under threat, the interior minister said Friday.

Claude Gueant did not specify the nature of the threats or of the new security measures.

The United States on Friday handed over to Iraqi control the sprawling Victory Base Complex near Baghdad, the main base from which the U.S. war in Iraq was run, a U.S. military spokesman said.

"The Victory Base Complex was officially signed over to the receivership of the Iraqi government this morning. The base is no longer under U.S. control and is now under the full authority of the government of Iraq," said Colonel Barry Johnson, a spokesman for United States Forces - Iraq (USF-I).

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi rejected any foreign intervention in Syria on Thursday as he joined European Union talks aimed at ramping up pressure on the regime over its crackdown on dissidents.

"We reject any accusation that the Arab League is inviting any intervention," Arabi said on arrival for a lunch with EU foreign ministers, who slapped a new round of economic sanctions on Damascus.

Washington on Thursday placed economic sanctions on a senior Syrian general and a financier uncle of President Bashar al-Assad, adding new pressure on the regime over its bloody political crackdown.

The Treasury Department added Mohammed Makhlouf, Assad's maternal uncle and the father of already-sanctioned telecoms magnate Rami Makhlouf, and 4th armored division General Aus Aslan, to its growing list of Syrian figures and organizations that Americans are banned from doing business with.

Syria has suspended its participation in the Mediterranean Union in retaliation for punitive measures against its regime by European states, state media said on Thursday.

"Syria is suspending its membership in the Mediterranean Union in response to European measures taken against it," said a statement carried by the official SANA news agency.