A U.S. drone attack targeting a militant compound killed 10 insurgents in a troubled Pakistani tribal region on Wednesday, security officials said.

Two missiles hit the compound located in Tappi, 10 kilometers (six miles) southeast of Miranshah, the main town in volatile North Waziristan near the Afghan border, a military official in Peshawar said.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak arrived on Tuesday in Riyadh at the start of a two-day visit to the OPEC kingpin which comes as Seoul seeks to diversify its oil sources.

"South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak arrived with his delegation in Riyadh today in an official visit to the kingdom," Saudi state news agency SPA reported.

Ice-breakers Tuesday battled Europe's big chill as the Danube river froze over more than 170 kilometers, and dozens died of cold on a continent gripped by some of the lowest temperatures in decades.

The overall death toll from the cold snap that began 11 days ago topped 400 while forecasters warned there would be no early let-up to the freezing weather.

New Western sanctions will fail to force Iran to give up its nuclear "rights," a foreign ministry official said on Tuesday, a day after the United States unveiled more measures against Iran's central bank.

"The sanctions won't have any effect on the Iranian people's determination to achieve their rights" in terms of nuclear development, spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in response to a question on new U.S. sanctions.

A group of Chinese workers "kidnapped" by rebels in southern Sudan 11 days ago have been freed and flown to Kenya, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

"The Sudanese authorities allowed a Red Cross plane to take them from Kauda to Nairobi ... this Tuesday morning where they were given to the Chinese embassy there," the statement said.

The U.N. atomic agency said Tuesday that a high-ranking visit to Iran will take place on February 20-21, beginning a day earlier than had been announced.

"An IAEA statement on 1 February 2012 stated that agency officials would hold a further meeting with Iran in Tehran on 21-22 February," the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said in a communiqué.

A top Chinese official has warned of a "trust deficit" between Beijing and Washington and expressed hopes that a key visit to the United States next week by China's leader-in-waiting will strengthen ties.

Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai made the remarks in a speech published on the ministry's website on Tuesday, as Beijing and Washington lock horns over China's decision to veto a U.N. resolution on the bloody violence in Syria.

The Maldives' first democratically elected president resigned Tuesday after a police mutiny described by his office as an attempted coup, capping three weeks of political upheaval in the holiday paradise.

"It will be better for the country in the current situation if I resign. I don't want to run the country with an iron-fist. I am resigning," President Mohamed Nasheed told a televised press conference.

Romania's prime minister designate Mihai Razvan Ungureanu on Tuesday started talks on forming a new government.

Ungureanu arrived shortly after 07:00 GMT at the government offices where the ruling coalition parties will discuss the new team.

Police strikers occupying the state legislature in the Brazilian city of Salvador vowed Monday to resist if troops try to flush them out amid a tense standoff between the security forces.

Local media reported that authorities fired rubber bullets and lobbed tear gas canisters at demonstrators in clashes outside the assembly that left at least six people injured.