A ceasefire between Israel and armed groups in Gaza depends on each side's ability to claim victory and the credibility of the mediation, undermined by Israel launching strikes with a truce already in effect.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Sunday a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza militants was an urgent necessity and France was willing to help broker a truce.
US President Barack Obama on Friday reiterated US support for Israel's right to defend itself during a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the conflict in Gaza.
Israeli air strikes hit the cabinet headquarters of Gaza's Hamas government, the group said early Saturday, with eyewitnesses reporting extensive damage to the building.
US senators got their first look Thursday at dramatic video footage of the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya as they probed the government's response to the assault.
Arab nations demanded the UN Security Council condemn Israel's deadly attacks on Gaza at an emergency meeting, but the United States strongly defended Israel's military strikes.
UN leader Ban Ki-moon appealed Sunday to Israel and Syria to ease tensions on their disputed Golan Heights frontier amid warnings that conflict in Syria could spread.
Japan said Friday around 150 delegates from some 60 countries are expected to attend an international conference in Tokyo this month aimed at pressuring the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Toyota Monday hiked its full-year profit forecast to 780 billion yen ($9.7 billion) despite saying it expected to sell fewer cars due to weakness in Europe and China and a Sino-Japanese territorial row.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Thursday that the stability of Mali was "important for Europe's security" during a visit to the divided west African country under Islamist control in the north.
A group of South Korean lawmakers were set Tuesday to visit an isolated set of islands at the heart of a territorial dispute with Japan -- a move likely to stoke tensions with Tokyo still more.
Organisers of the Tokyo International Film Festival said Tuesday they had gone ahead with the screening of a Chinese-made film, despite requests by producers to shelve it because of a territorial row.
The United States on Friday backed a call by the United Nations, the Arab League and their special envoy to Syria for a ceasefire by both sides in the conflict over this month's Eid al-Adha holiday.
China was set to dispatch naval vessels and aircraft to the East China Sea on Friday, flexing its muscles in exercises likely to further stoke a bristling territorial dispute with Japan.
International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has warned that the Syria conflict risks setting the region "ablaze", as clashes broke out across the border with Lebanon.
International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has called for a ceasefire in Syria during the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, as the revolt enters its 20th month with a death toll of more than 33,000.
Turkey has banned Syrian flights from its airspace in a tit-for-tat move, while Iran handed a "detailed proposal" to UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi aimed at ending the conflict between the Syria's army and rebels.
The war of words between Syria and Turkey escalated on Thursday when Ankara said it had found military supplies on a passenger plane it intercepted en route between Moscow and Damascus.
