Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the European Union must accept Turkey as a member if it wants to avoid being a "Christian club," in an interview with a German newspaper.

Asked whether Turkey should join the E.U., Assad told Germany's top-selling Bild newspaper: "They simply must ask Turkey to become a member because they need it as an Islamic country so the E.U. does not become a Christian club."

Qatar Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell agreed on Tuesday to study building a petrochemical project worth six billion dollars in Ras Laffan by 2016.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding in the Qatari capital Doha under which they will jointly study development of the project, a statement said.

At least seven people have died and hundreds more were injured in a 6.5-magnitude earthquake which struck southeastern Iran, Mehr news agency reported on Tuesday.

The late Monday quake, with epicenter near the town of Hosseinabad in Kerman province, was followed by 22 tremors, including one of 5.0 magnitude, the agency said quoting the geophysics department of Tehran university.

The number of international troops killed in Afghanistan this year, already by far the deadliest in the nine-year campaign against the Taliban, has passed 700, an independent website said Tuesday.

The number of coalition forces killed fighting the Taliban in 2010 stood at 701, iCasualties.org said, days after U.S. President Barack Obama said the war strategy was "on track."

A low-key British historical drama about King George VI's stammer led with seven nominations for the Golden Globe awards Tuesday, while blockbuster Facebook film "The Social Network" scored six nods.

"The King's Speech," starring Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter, was nominated for best picture, director, actor, screenplay, score and supporting actor and actress.

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shiite religious procession in the Iranian city of Chabahar on Wednesday killing at least 39 people in an attack claimed by Sunni rebel group Jundallah.

A pathologist cited by the official IRNA news agency said 38 bodies had been brought to the town's mortuary, among them women and children. A 39th casualty later succumbed to his wounds, the pathologist said.

Time magazine named Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg "person of the year" Wednesday, ignoring a push by readers of the magazine for WikiLeaks maestro Julian Assange to take the honor.

Zuckerberg, only 26, is the second youngest person named to the cover of Time's ritual annual.

Clouds of tear gas mingled with smoke in Athens and a former minister was reportedly hurt as police and stone-throwing protesters clashed Wednesday during a demonstration against new austerity measures.

Protesters set garbage bins and cars on fire outside a trio of luxury hotels on central Syntagma Square and threw projectiles at riot police during the union-backed demonstration that attracted some 20,000 participants, according to police.

Kuwait's appeals court on Wednesday reduced to three months a one-year jail term given to a prominent writer and journalist for allegedly slandering the prime minister, his lawyer said.

The ruling means that Mohammad Abdulqader al-Jassem, who was arrested on November 22, will remain in jail at least for the time being, Abdullah al-Ahmad told AFP.

Communist rebels waging a decades-long insurgency in the Philippines killed 10 soldiers as the troops were returning to camp to observe a Christmas truce, the military said Wednesday.

Tuesday's attack by the New People's Army (NPA) on the central island of Samar came 48 hours before an 18-day ceasefire was to take effect, and as the opposing sides were preparing for a resumption of peace talks in February.