Thousands of South Sudanese have been killed in over a week of violence with reports of bodies piled in mass graves, the UN said Tuesday, as the Security Council agreed to nearly double its peacekeepers in the young nation threatening to slide into civil war.
Syria now views Saudi Arabia as its number one enemy and accuses it of trying to destroy the country by arming jihadists and other rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad.
French President Francois Hollande said he expected Poland to announce Friday that it would provide military backing for France's troops in the Central African Republic.
Madagascans voted Friday for a new president and parliament in run-off elections aimed at pulling the island out of the political and economic doldrums and restoring democracy.
Kinshasa and the M23 rebels signed documents officially burying the hatchet Thursday in Nairobi, a month after the end of the fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Former Chilean president and socialist champion Michelle Bachelet, who has proposed tax reforms and a new constitution for her country, is expected to unseat conservatives Sunday in a runoff election.
The US House of Representatives voted Wednesday to punish countries that do not promptly return abducted children, upping pressure in an issue that has soured relations with Japan and other allies.
Republicans were left steaming Tuesday after President Barack Obama shook the hand of Cuban leader Raul Castro, with one senior lawmaker likening the act to appeasement of the Nazis.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro faced a big test Sunday as municipal polls, seen as a referendum on his performance amid soaring crime, high inflation and household shortages, closed.
The United States has strenuously objected to China's new air zone over islands managed by Japan, but experts say its best hope is to contain rather than end tensions.
The Dalai Lama said Friday he would miss his "dear friend" Nelson Mandela, who he hailed as "a man of courage, principle and unquestionable integrity" in a letter sent to the South African icon's family.
America's first black president Barack Obama Thursday mourned Nelson Mandela as a "profoundly good" man who "took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice."
Nelson Mandela, the icon of South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle and a colossus of 20th century politics, died late Thursday aged 95, prompting mass mourning and a global celebration of his astonishing life.
A 69-year-old uncle of President Barack Obama was on Tuesday granted the right to remain in the United States permanently after a federal court ruling, his lawyer revealed.
Japan's top drugmaker said Saturday it had picked a GlaxoSmithKline executive as its next president in a rare example of overseas head-hunting by a major Japanese firm.
The head of Honduras' electoral tribunal on Wednesday declared conservative Juan Orlando Hernandez the winner of the presidential poll, amid allegations of vote-rigging from the losing leftist candidate.
Hundreds of demonstrators blocked streets in the Honduras capital Tuesday in support of the leftist presidential candidate, who is claiming victory though authorities say the conservative won.