Syrian rebels vowed to fight on in Aleppo a day after being driven out of a key district under heavy shellfire, which was targeting other parts of the strategic city on Friday.

A rebel commander, Hossam Abu Mohammed, said his men were still fighting in parts of Aleppo's southwestern district of Salaheddin after most fled on Thursday under heavy bombing and advancing troops.

First Britain upset the French government by offering a home to any high earners seeking to flee a new top tax band, and now the U.S. state of Mississippi is making a bid to recruit wealthy exiles.

France's new Socialist leader President Francois Hollande plans to slap a tax of 75 percent on all income in excess of a million euros ($1.24 million), and territories with lower rates are hoping for a cash exodus.

A British photographer who was held hostage in Syria for a week said on Sunday that his captors were international jihadists who included several Britons.

Freelance photographer John Cantile and his Dutch colleague Jeroen Oerlemans were kidnapped in northern Syria on July 19 and freed a week later.

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague pledged greater support for Syria's rebel fighters on Friday, as the battle for the country's commercial capital Aleppo intensified.

"Given the scale of death and suffering and the failure so far of the diplomatic process we will, over the coming weeks, increase our practical but non-lethal support," Hague told BBC radio.

A court in London on Thursday jailed an Ethiopian diplomat for trying to smuggle a large stash of cannabis through London's Heathrow Airport.

Amelework Wondemagegne, an official at the Ethiopian embassy in Washington, had tried to claim diplomatic immunity when she was caught at the airport in April with 56 kilograms (123 pounds) of cannabis.

President Vladimir Putin will strongly defend Russia's position on the Syria conflict when he meets British Prime Minister David Cameron in London on Thursday, his spokesman said.

"We expect to have another opportunity to continue our dialogue and explain to the British side our well-argued, consistent and absolutely clear position on the (Syria) problem," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies.

A court in London on Wednesday jailed identical twin brothers for three years after they admitted a charge of fundraising for acts of terrorism abroad.

Mohammed Shabir Ali and Mohammed Shafiq Ali, 25, were part of a "network of support" for their older brother while he was at a terrorist training camp in Somalia, the Old Bailey heard.

House prices in recession-affected Britain slid in July on an annual basis by the biggest amount in nearly three years, a survey by major home-loans provider Nationwide showed on Wednesday.

The average value of a home in Britain stood at £164,389 ($257,743, 209,051 euros) in July -- down 2.6 percent compared with the same month in 2011, the lender said in a statement.

Syria's top diplomat in London resigned Monday in protest against the "violent and oppressive" acts of President Bashar Assad's regime, the British Foreign Office said.

The move comes after a series of defections by senior Syrian officials in recent weeks, including diplomats in several countries and top army officers.

James Bond and David Beckham starred as Britain welcomed the world to the Olympics in an eccentric opening ceremony showcasing the country's rich history and sense of fun.

Seven young athletes lit the cauldron in the climax to a show which ran into the early hours of Saturday before former Beatle Paul McCartney brought the curtain down at London's Olympic Stadium.