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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush did not know about a White House effort to leak the identity of a CIA agent but tried to protect staffers who were involved in one of the biggest scandals of his administration, former Bush spokesman Scott McClellan told Congress on Friday.

AMARA, Iraq (Reuters) - Supporters of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr accused Iraqi security forces on Friday of heavy-handed action in a crackdown in the southern city of Amara, calling it a "clear provocation".

HAVANA (Reuters) - Former Cuban President Fidel Castro, showing renewed vigor in recent days, lashed out on Friday at the European Union's decision to lift sanctions against Cuba while demanding the island nation improve its human rights record.

LONDON (Reuters) - Major powers have offered Iran preliminary talks on its nuclear work, on condition it limits uranium enrichment to current levels for six weeks in exchange for a freeze on moves towards harsher sanctions, diplomats say.

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said on Friday he expects Republicans to highlight the fact that he is black as part of an effort to make voters afraid of him.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Republican John McCain defended the North American Free Trade Agreement in Canada on Friday during an unusual foreign trip as a U.S. presidential candidate to draw a contrast with Barack Obama, his Democratic rival in the November election.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.N. children's fund UNICEF has severed ties with an Israeli billionaire and financial backer due to his suspected involvement in building settlements in the occupied West Bank, UNICEF said on Friday.

MALABO (Reuters) - British mercenary Simon Mann sought leniency from a court in Equatorial Guinea on Friday, saying he was sorry for having been part of a failed coup plot to topple the president of the oil-rich West African state.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The quartet of Middle East peace mediators will meet in Berlin on Tuesday for their first gathering since Egypt brokered a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the U.S. State Department said.

LONDON (Reuters) - Major powers have offered Iran preliminary talks on its nuclear work, on condition it limits uranium enrichment to current levels for six weeks in exchange for a freeze on moves towards harsher sanctions, diplomats say.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States hopes North Korea will produce an overdue declaration of its nuclear programs "in the near future," said a U.S. official on Friday who held out the possibility it could come next week.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Brazil said on Friday it would seek as much as $4 billion in sanctions on U.S. imports after the World Trade Organization (WTO) adopted a final ruling in a long-running dispute over Washington's cotton subsidies.

SILVER SPRING, Maryland (Reuters) - Director Spike Lee, whose movies often cast a sharp eye on U.S. racial politics, predicted a presidential victory for black Democrat Barack Obama that would mark a "new day" for the United States.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Worries about the economy and higher fuel costs dominated talks on Friday among U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama and Democratic governors, some of whom have been mentioned as his possible running mate.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua has ordered the country's armed forces to tighten security in the Niger Delta and hunt down militants behind an attack on Shell's main offshore oil facility, his office said on Friday.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon signaled on Friday that he would press ahead with a plan to gradually cede key U.N. roles in Kosovo, despite opposition from Serbia and its big-power ally Russia.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has released most of the 1,315 people detained in the wake of Tibet's deadly riots because their offences were minor, a senior official said on Friday.

ROME (Reuters) - A corruption trial against Silvio Berlusconi and British lawyer David Mills will go ahead in July despite the Italian premier's attempts to have it stopped by accusing the court of bias, the judge said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Friday that could shield phone companies from billions of dollars in lawsuits for their participation in the warrantless surveillance program begun by President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush did not know about a White House effort to leak the identity of a CIA agent but tried to protect staffers who were involved in one of the biggest scandals of his administration, former Bush spokesman Scott McClellan told Congress on Friday.