Top Republican contenders for the White House in 2012 accused President Barack Obama on Thursday of betraying staunch U.S. ally Israel in his new long-shot push for Middle East peace.

"President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus," thundered former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, generally viewed as the frontrunner in the race for the party's presidential nomination.

A 5.9-magnitude earthquake partly collapsed some buildings and one mosque in western Turkey, killing at least three people and injuring nearly 100 people, authorities said Friday.

The quake that struck at 11:15 p.m. (2015 GMT) on Thursday, sent terrified residents running from their homes before midnight. It was centered in the town of Simav, the Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory said.

The European Union on Thursday agreed to sanction more than 100 Iranian companies, sharply expanding the number of firms hit by an assets freeze over Iran's disputed nuclear program.

Diplomats said the "significant expansion" in EU sanctions was expected to be approved and announced Monday by the bloc's 27 foreign ministers.

Former Irish prime minister Garret FitzGerald, who signed a landmark agreement on Northern Ireland in the 1980s, has died in a Dublin hospital after a short illness, his family said Thursday. He was 85.

FitzGerald served twice as Taoiseach, or prime minister, at the head of Fine Gael-Labor coalitions in 1981-82 and 1982-87, during which he signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement with British premier Margaret Thatcher in 1985.

Turkey announced Thursday that it is seeking a new term on the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member.

In a statement, Turkey's foreign ministry said it was seeking membership for 2015-2016.

A small commercial plane crashed in an isolated part of Patagonia in southern Argentina late Wednesday, killing all 22 people on board, officials said.

"We did not find anyone alive. There were no survivors. The plane is in multiple charred fragments. Everything is burnt and smashed to pieces," said local hospital director Ismael Ali, who participated in the rescue mission.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned Thursday as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), saying he did so with great regret but must focus entirely on clearing his name of sexual assault charges.

"I want to protect this institution which I have served with honor and devotion, and especially -- especially -- I want to devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence," he said.

Thirteen people were killed and 20 others hurt Wednesday in a suicide car bombing against a police bus in eastern Afghanistan claimed by the Taliban, a provincial spokesman said.

"Unfortunately, 13 people have been killed and 20 others injured in a suicide attack that targeted a police minivan today," said provincial spokesman Abdul Zia Ahmadzai.

President Dmitry Medvedev warned Wednesday Russia could pull out a new nuclear disarmament treaty and enter a new Cold War with the West if the two sides failed to agree on a new missile defense shield.

Medvedev told reporters that the United States' decision to push ahead with the European shield despite Russia's objections will force Moscow "to take response measures -- something that we would very much rather not do."

At least 11 people were killed and more than 50 others injured on Wednesday in violent Afghan demonstrations over the deaths of four people in a NATO raid, an official said.

"Now we have 11 dead and over 50 other people admitted with injuries to hospital," acting provincial health director, Hassan Basij, told Agence France Presse.