US Secretary of State John Kerry slammed Russia on Monday for "enabling" Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to stay in power in the war-torn country, after Geneva peace talks broke off without result at the weekend.
The rebel Free Syrian Army said Sunday it had fired Selim Idriss as its military chief, citing the "difficulties faced by the Syrian revolution" in its battle with the regime.
Egyptian army chief and likely new president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi meets top Russian officials on Thursday to negotiate a $2-billion arms deal that is meant to replace subsiding assistance from old ally Washington.
Afghanistan released 65 alleged Taliban fighters from jail on Thursday despite condemnation from the United States, which says the men could return to the battlefield to launch strikes against NATO and Afghan forces.
"Ethnic cleansing" is being carried out against Muslim civilians in the Central African Republic, with international peacekeepers unable to prevent it.
A military aircraft carrying 78 people crashed in Algeria's mountainous northeast on Tuesday, leaving just one survivor in one of the country's deadliest air disasters.
Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot leaders meet Tuesday to relaunch talks on ending the island's division after a nearly two-year break, with optimism that the energy card could provide a breakthrough.
President Barack Obama will Tuesday highlight a new national security dimension to America's oldest alliance as he deploys the full pageantry of a state visit for France's President Francois Hollande.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon spoke Monday with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on increasing the number of European and African troops in the Central African Republic.
Iran agreed Sunday to clarify to the UN atomic agency its need for detonators used in nuclear devices, as part of a probe into allegations of its past weapons work.
Kazakhstan's film Harmony Lessons directed by Emir Baigazin has been awarded with Crystal Simorgh at the 32th International Fajr Film Festival in Iran.
Turkey scrambled two F-16 jets Friday to force down an airliner from Ukraine when an apparently drunk would-be hijacker ordered it to Sochi where the Winter Olympics opening ceremony was underway.
UN aid deliveries to rebel-held areas in the Syrian city of Homs were to begin Saturday, a day after dozens of civilians who survived more than 600 days of army siege were evacuated.
