Excerpt:
President Barack Obama condemned a US pastor's burning of the Koran, after violent protests at what he called an act of "extreme intolerance and bigotry" left 17 dead in Afghanistan.
Obama also reiterated his condemnation of the "outrageous" attacks by protesters as "an affront to human decency and dignity."
"No religion tolerates the slaughter and beheading of innocent people, and there is no justification for such a dishonorable and deplorable act," he added.