Countries rocked by the Arab Spring uprisings face "turbulent and difficult" times, Britain's foreign secretary warned Thursday, hours after expelling diplomats loyal to Moammar Gadhafi from Britain.

William Hague said the movements could be derailed by faltering economies, sectarian feuds and counter-revolutions, predicting "a lot of problems and even convulsions" for years to come, in an interview with The Times.

Britain on Wednesday recognized Libya's rebel council as the country's sole legitimate government, after dramatically expelling all remaining staff loyal to Moammar Gadhafi from the London embassy.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said he had invited the National Transitional Council (NTC) to take over the embassy and appoint an official envoy to London in a major boost for the rebel movement fighting Gadhafi's regime.

Britain's foreign minister for the Middle East and Africa has expressed concern over the roadside bombing that targeted a UNIFIL convoy near the southern port city of Sidon on Tuesday.

"I am deeply concerned by reports of another attack against a UNIFIL patrol in South Lebanon. My sympathy is with the injured and their families,” said Alistair Burt in a statement.

Four Yemeni suspects have been arrested in connection with a car-bomb attack in the southern port of Aden that killed a British businessman on Wednesday, security officials said on Saturday.

The four suspects lived in the Moalla neighborhood where the attack took place, the security officials said, without ruling out further arrests.

Attitudes toward Muslims have become slightly more positive in the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and Russia compared with five years ago, although negative views between Muslim countries and the West persist on both sides, a Pew Center survey found.

The survey, by Pew's Global Attitudes Project, found majorities of Muslims surveyed in five of six Muslim-dominant countries and the Palestinian territories described non-Muslim Westerners as selfish and greedy.

Police have expanded their hacking inquiry beyond Rupert Murdoch's empire, asking for files from an earlier probe into the use of investigators by other British papers, regulators said on Thursday.

The 2006 report by the Information Commissioner's Office, called "What Price Privacy Now," alleged that Britain's middle-market Daily Mail newspaper made the most requests to private investigators for confidential information.

British forces have detained two British nationals in Afghanistan, authorities in London said Thursday, amid reports they were suspected of plotting against Britain or fighting with the Taliban.

"We can confirm that British forces have detained two individuals in Afghanistan who claim to be British nationals," the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

The resignation of Britain's top policeman over the phone-hacking scandal rocking Rupert Murdoch's media empire threatens to drag leader David Cameron further into the mire, newspapers said Monday.

Scotland Yard Chief Sir Paul Stephenson quit on Sunday over claims he stayed at a luxury resort with links to Murdoch's realm but the top-cop aimed a parting shot at Prime Minister Cameron over his ties with ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson.

The plight of millions of people left hungry by a harsh drought across the Horn of Africa is set to worsen, with the rains not expected soon and harvests months away, a top U.N. official warned Saturday.

Scanty or failed rainfall in the region over the past two years has already forced thousands of Somalis to flee their country and ruined the livelihoods of millions in parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti.

A former police officer who weighs 140 Kg was denied the right to obesity surgery will take his case to the Court of Appeals on Monday.

Tom Condliff, 62, says he needs the stomach operation to save his life but the North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust has ruled that his body mass index is not high enough to entitle him to funding for a gastric bypass operation.