WASHINGTON (AFP) - President Barack Obama said Friday that four consecutive quarters of US economic growth is a "welcome sign" of a US recovery but more was needed to put unemployed Americans back to work.

BEIRUT (AFP) - Visiting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah on Friday urged Lebanese parties to avoid resorting to violence in the face of mounting political tensions in the country.

KAMPALA (AFP) - A Ugandan court on Friday charged three Kenyans with 76 counts of murder, the first such cases opened against suspects in the July 11 suicide attacks in Kampala, an AFP correspondent reported.

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Five Taliban members, including a former Afghan ambassador to the UN, have been taken off a UN sanctions terrorism list, a Western diplomat said Friday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US economy is expanding at a "solid rate," President Barack Obama's top economic advisor said Friday, after data showed slower-than-expected growth of 2.4 percent in the second quarter.