Russian firefighters on Friday put out flames on a nuclear submarine undergoing repairs near Norway after almost a day-long blaze that raised concerns about the security of Russia's ageing fleet.

The rubberized coating on the Delta IV class submarine Yekaterinburg caught fire Thursday afternoon at a dock in the Far Northern Murmansk region, the latest serious accident to have struck Russia's navy in the past years.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed regret Friday for the death of 35 Kurdish civilians in an air strike, saying it had been determined they were smugglers and not separatist rebels.

Speaking to journalists in Istanbul, Erdogan offered his condolences to the families of the victims for what he called an "unfortunate and distressing" incident.

A severe cyclone packing winds of up to 140 kilometers (85 miles) an hour tore into India's southeastern coast on Friday, killing at least 16 people, a senior official said.

Cyclone Thane lashed the coast between Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu state and the territory of Pondicherry early on Friday, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

A Vietnamese cargo boat that vanished near the Philippines on Christmas Day has sunk, killing 22 of its 23 crew members, Vietnam state shipping firm Vinalines said Friday.

"According to our initial information, only one sailor has been rescued and the vessel has not been found yet," a Vinalines official based in Hanoi told AFP, asking not to be named.

All six crewmen aboard a Sudanese military helicopter were killed when it crash-landed and burned in North Kordofan state on Friday, the army said.

Fire broke out because of a "technical problem" aboard the Russian-made aircraft three minutes after takeoff from a base at El Obeid, the state capital, army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad told Agence France Presse.

North Korea warned the world Friday to expect no policy changes under new leader Kim Jong-Un, and threatened retaliation against South Korea for "rubbing salt" into the wounds of its grieving people.

The tough statement came a day after the communist nation ended 13 days of mourning for late leader Kim Jong-Il, and proclaimed his son Jong-Un as new supreme chief at a massive memorial ceremony.

The rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Friday urged Kurds in Turkey to stage an "uprising" after an air force raid killed 35 villagers near the Iraq border.

"We urge the people of Kurdistan... to react after this massacre and seek a settling of accounts through uprisings," Bahoz Erdal from the armed wing of the PKK, labeled a terrorist organization by Ankara, said in a statement.

A roadside bomb killed four civilians in Afghanistan's southern province of Uruzgan Friday, the provincial head of the crime investigation unit said.

"Four civilians were killed and one injured when their vehicle hit a Taliban-planted mine in Trinkot city this morning," said Gulab Khan.

A tanker truck filled with gasoline crashed and burst into flames on Thursday in Venezuela, engulfing several cars and a bus and killing at least 13 people.

The tanker truck tipped over and spilled gasoline, which ignited and burned seven vehicles, Caracas fire chief William Martinez said.

Turkey's foreign minister on Thursday hit back at French lawmakers who passed a bill last week criminalizing denial of the disputed Armenian genocide.

French lawmakers voted last Thursday to jail and fine anyone in France who denies that the 1915 killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire amounted to genocide, prompting Turkey to suspend political and military cooperation with Paris.