The families of three U.S. citizens killed in drone strikes in Yemen last year -- including al-Qaida preacher Anwar al-Awlaqi -- have filed a civil lawsuit against top U.S. officials.

The family members argue that the U.S. government's killing of the three men "violated fundamental rights afforded to all U.S. citizens, including the right not to be deprived of life without due process of law."

Egypt's former vice president Omar Suleiman, long-time spy chief to deposed president Hosni Mubarak, died on Thursday in the United States, the official MENA news agency reported.

"Former vice president General Omar Suleiman died in the early hours of Thursday in a hospital in the United States," the agency said.

Eight Afghan civilians were killed in a Taliban bombing in northern Afghanistan on Thursday and two NATO soldiers were killed in similar bombs elsewhere in the troubled country, officials said.

The civilians died in northern Faryab province when their mini-van struck a home-made bomb of the kind widely used by Taliban insurgents in attacks aimed at military forces.

U.S. defense officials have held talks with their Israeli counterparts over whether Israel might strike at Syria's weapons facilities as its regime faces possible collapse, the New York Times reported.

The Times on Wednesday cited officials as saying that the Pentagon is not advocating military action because it feels that such an attack would help Syrian President Bashar Assad rally support against foreign intervention.

The United States moved to freeze the assets of dozens of Syrian ministers Wednesday, piling pressure on the regime as it reeled from a bomb attack that took out three core security officials.

The White House insisted President Bashar Assad was "losing control" of power, as Washington marshaled its forces to push the regime toward its tipping point.

World powers said a suicide bombing Wednesday that killed three top Syrian officials showed the urgent need for a political transition.

"The French government, without knowing the circumstances of this attack, has always condemned terrorism. That said, given the level of violence, this makes it even more necessary and urgent to find a political transition," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told the French Senate.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday scoffed at U.S. claims that it could Gulf waters of mines in case of conflict, after Washington announced plans for a multinational anti-mine operation.

"The Americans boast a lot about many things, but they are facing problems in practice," General Mahmoud Fahimi, deputy chief of the Guards' naval forces, told the Fars news agency.

A New Zealand judge has stepped down from overseeing the extradition case of Mega upload founder Kim Dotcom after jokingly referring to the United States as "the enemy."

The comment by Auckland District Court Judge David Harvey raised questions about his impartiality. He was discussing Internet copyright at a conference last week when he told an audience, "We have met the enemy, and he is U.S."

U.S. regulators approved the second new anti-obesity drug in 13 years, Qsymia, for use with exercise and a good diet in people who are obese or overweight with certain medical problems.

Some analysts have touted Qsymia as the next "blockbuster", akin to the best-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor, with the U.S. market desperate for new treatments for the two-thirds of the population that is overweight or obese.

Three decades into the AIDS pandemic an end to new infections is in sight, according to Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"We don't even know if a cure is possible. What we know is it is possible that we can end this pandemic even without a cure," Fauci told Agence France Presse in an interview ahead of the International AIDS conference July 22-27 in the U.S. capital.