The United States said Saturday it was "deeply concerned" by the conviction and sentencing of Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega, who was jailed for 18 years on "terrorism" charges.

"The United States remains deeply concerned about the trial, conviction, and sentencing of Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega, as well as seven political opposition figures, under the country's Anti-Terrorism Proclamation," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.

The United States unleashed a fresh wave of sanctions against Iran Thursday, ratcheting up pressure to convince Tehran to take seriously concerns about its suspected nuclear weapons program.

The actions impose additional sanctions on Iran's "nuclear and ballistic missile proliferation networks" and identifies more than 50 Iranian "front companies and banks," the Treasury Department said.

U.S. President Barack Obama authorized the use of $10 million in emergency funds on Thursday for people displaced by the conflict in northern Mali, the White House adding it was "deeply concerned".

The funds will support efforts of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

The self-proclaimed mastermind of the September 11 attacks and four co-defendants are seeking to delay their August hearing at the U.S. military jail at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba so that they can observe Ramadan, their lawyers said Wednesday.

The Pentagon-funded lawyer for the nephew of 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, said the judge had "many options," including extending a subsequent hearing set for September 8-12, which falls during the end of Ramadan.

The United States on Tuesday deplored Syrian shelling of northern Lebanon, urging the regime of President Bashar Assad to respect the sovereignty of its neighbors.

The Lebanese army began sending troop reinforcements to the border with Syria after Syrian troops and armed men traded gunfire overnight in the area and shells fell inside Lebanon, wounding civilians. The official Syrian news agency SANA confirmed the violence.

An American al-Qaida supporter admitted plotting to bomb the Pentagon and the Capitol using explosives-laden model planes and will be jailed for 17 years, officials said Tuesday.

In an agreement reached last week, Rezwan Ferdaus, 26, pleaded guilty to attempting to damage and destroy the Washington landmarks by means of an explosive and attempting to provide material support to terrorists.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday that the United States and Pakistan are putting past tensions behind them to focus on the future, after meeting with her Pakistani counterpart.

It was their first face-to-face meeting since the two countries last week struck a deal to reopen key supply routes into Afghanistan, closed for seven months following a U.S. attack in which 24 Pakistani soldiers died.

U.S. deputy secretary of state Bill Burns was in Cairo on Saturday to meet with a wide spectrum of leaders and groups including Egypt's newly elected President Mohammed Morsi, the embassy said.

Burns was on a July 6-8 visit "to meet with a broad spectrum of Egyptian leaders, politicians, and civil society representatives," it said in a statement.

The first trucks supplying NATO troops in Afghanistan crossed the border from Pakistan on Thursday after Islamabad ended a seven-month blockade.

Pakistan closed overland routes for NATO convoys into its war-torn neighbor after a botched U.S. air raid in November killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at a border post, plunging ties between the "war on terror" allies to a new low.

Major Wall Street and European financial firms are coming under pressure to dump their holdings in Lebanese debt and securities from activists who charge that Iran, Syria and Hizbullah are using Beirut's banking system to launder money and evade international sanctions, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

The campaign -- which is being led by New York-based United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) -- could threaten the Lebanese financial sector, traditionally among the Middle East's most important and vibrant, the U.S. daily said.