A key U.S. senator on Tuesday backed an end to U.S. sanctions on Myanmar after a landmark visit by the country's reformist leader, signaling a new normalization in relations despite rights concerns.

President Thein Sein, a general-turned-civilian who ended Myanmar's long isolation from the West, met lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol one day after the first White House summit by a leader of his country in nearly 50 years.

Nigeria said Tuesday it would release several suspects held for "terrorist activities," including all women in custody, in what it called a peace gesture to the Islamists it is battling in the north.

The announcement came as Nigeria pressed ahead with a nearly week-old offensive against Islamist insurgents in the northeast of Africa's most populous nation, while the Red Cross said at least 2,400 people had fled violence in the region.

A hearing for Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev originally set for May 30th has been delayed until July 2, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Together with his older brother Tamerlan, the 19-year-old is accused of setting off twin blasts near the finish line of the Boston Marathon that killed three people and wounded more than 260 on April 15.

The deployment of a rapid U.N. intervention force in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo should be speeded up in view of this week's fresh unrest, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday.

"Considering what has happened I think we must expedite the deployment so they will be fully responsible as soon as possible," said Ban during a visit to Mozambique.

Iran's moderate ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and a former government official Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie have been barred from contesting the June 14 presidential election, the interior ministry said Tuesday.

Eight candidates won approval to stand -- five conservatives close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as two moderate conservatives and a reformist, the ministry said in a statement.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday offered the global body's help to the U.S. state of Oklahoma, struck by a brutal tornado that killed at least two dozen people.

"The secretary general has written to the governor of Oklahoma, Mary Fallin, to express his solidarity and to offer the assistance of the United Nations, if requested, to help with the recovery efforts," said deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey.

Nigeria on Tuesday relaxed the curfew in Maiduguri, stronghold of the Boko Haram Islamist militant sect, three days after it was imposed, an Agence France Presse journalist in the city said.

City residents were able to go outside their homes during the day after the army issued a statement late Monday easing the curfew from 7 am (0600 GMT) until 5 pm (1600 GMT).

A U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday that the federal government is not required to release photos that were taken of al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden after he was killed by special forces.

The al-Qaida leader was slain at his Pakistani compound in May 2011 by U.S. Navy SEAL commandos, who took pictures of their target's corpse in order to confirm the success of their mission.

A fresh bout of fighting between army and rebel forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has left 19 dead, the government said Tuesday, on the eve of a visit by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon.

Mortar fire rang out for a second day north of the regional hub Goma after the first clashes in six months between the M23 rebellion that briefly seized the city in November and government troops broke out on Monday.

Pakistani politician Imran Khan is to leave hospital on Wednesday, his party and medics said Tuesday, two weeks after breaking bones in his back in a fall at an election rally.

The 60-year-old was ordered by doctors to remain immobile in a hospital bed with fractured vertebrae and a broken rib after falling from a hoist raising him to the stage at a rally just days before the May 11 general election.