The premises of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi came under attack during the night but there were no casualties, embassy and security sources told Agence France Presse on Tuesday.

"There was an attack late last night on the United States office in Benghazi," a U.S. embassy official said, adding that one was hurt.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta held talks Wednesday with his Indian counterpart focused on NATO's planned exit from Afghanistan and China's rising power, officials said.

Panetta's two-day visit to New Delhi is part of a tour of the region that has stressed Washington's strategic shift to Asia, with U.S. officials portraying India as an anchor for the new approach.

A critical shortage of generic drugs in the United States, particularly in cancer care, could be curbed with legislation now being hammered out by the US House and Senate, doctors said on Monday.

Similar versions have passed each chamber and may be reconciled in time for President Barack Obama to sign them this month or next, said a panel of experts at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting.

Syrian President Bashar Assad was lying when he denied his regime had any involvement in the massacre of more than 100 civilians near the central town of Houla, the White House said Monday.

Asked if Assad lied at the weekend when he denied his forces fired on innocent civilians near Houla, President Barack Obama's spokesman, Jay Carney, said: "Yes.

The United States urged China on Sunday to free all those still held 23 years after the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations and to stop harassing protesters and their relatives.

State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said the United States remembered the "violent suppression" of Tiananmen and called on China to do more to protect the universal human rights of its citizens.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Russia Sunday to get behind a political transition in Syria, saying President Bashar Assad's departure was not a precondition but should be "an outcome".

Clinton spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by telephone at the weekend to say that Washington and Moscow needed to work together on a plan that would halt the violence and bring about political change in the country.

Over 1,200 firefighters battling New Mexico's largest wildfire in history rappelled from helicopters Saturday to extinguish blazes in rugged mountains and canyons, authorities said.

The Whitewater-Baldy Complex blaze has burned through 227,000 acres (92,000 hectares) and is only 15 percent contained, although "substantial progress" has been made as firefighters race to extinguish the massive fire ahead of more hot and windy conditions, according to officials.

Iran will respond to any Israeli or U.S. attack against its nuclear sites with a "proportionate" reaction, the military adviser to the country's supreme leader Ali Khamenei said on Saturday.

General Yahya Rahim Safavi, quoted by Fars news agency, said however that such an attack was unlikely.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday that any military action in Syria would need backing from the United Nations, but called recent violence "intolerable."

Asked if he could foresee a scenario in which the United States would back military intervention even without U.N. authorization, Panetta said: "No, I cannot envision that."

A Syrian honorary consul in the United States has resigned in protest after last week's killings in Houla, where more than 100 people were slaughtered in a massacre blamed on pro-government forces.

The resignation of Hazem Chehabi, who had helped arrange passport and other services in California, came as several countries expelled Syrian envoys to protest the spiraling violence of the 14-month government crackdown.