Damascus/Washington - Senior US officials met with Syrian counterparts in Damascus Saturday for the highest level talks between the two countries in years, as part of US President Barack Obama's initiative to expand dialogue in the Middle East.

Acting US Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman and White House aide Daniel Shapiro met with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and other Syrian officials for discussions on bilateral and regional issues.

Dhaka  - Authorities in Bangladesh Friday beefed up security at the parliament building and its premises following last week's troop mutiny in central Dhaka that left 71 people, including scores of military officers, dead.

"We have also asked the security agencies to improve the entire security system for parliament," Abdus Shahid, the chief whip of Bangladesh parliament told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa after a special meeting with the top security officials.

Washington - The United States condemned Sudan's expulsion of humanitarian organizations on Friday, warning that the move could imperil millions of people dependent on foreign assistance.

"These organizations provide critical humanitarian assistance to millions of Sudanese, and the forced departure of these organizations immediately and seriously threatens the lives and well-being of displaced populations," State Department acting deputy spokesman Gordon Duguid said.

Brussels  - If Hillary Rodham Clinton wanted proof that her first official visit to Europe as the United States' top diplomat was a success, she could not have asked for much more than this.

"What you said could have been said by a European," Hans-Gert Poettering, the silver-haired German leader of the European Parliament, told her after an hour-long question-and-answer session on the state of EU-US relations.

There could be no higher praise from a man whose entire institution is founded on the idea that it is good to be European.

Brussels - Developed and developing economies alike should accept specific targets for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions at UN negotiations in Copenhagen in December, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday.

"What I'm hoping for is to have as tight a regime (as possible), with measurable benchmarks and accountability, with specified outcomes," she said after talks with top European Union officials in Brussels.

Havana  - Felipe Perez Roque and Carlos Lage were regarded as likely stars in a potential Cuban transition until they fell from grace earlier this week and resigned from all their positions Thursday.

Following days of speculation, Cubans woke up Thursday to find published in state media the resignation letters of two men who were once heavyweights in Cuban politics and had been seen as likely stars for the moment in which the revolutionaries of 50 years ago were to hand over power to the generations born under communism.