Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is on life support, unable to breathe on his own, an elder in the South African icon's clan said Wednesday, all but extinguishing hopes for his recovery.
Mongolians headed to the polls Wednesday for a presidential election with the three candidates promising fairer wealth distribution from a spectacular mining boom that has raised questions over the role of foreign investors.
Taliban militants targeted the presidential palace and national CIA office in central Kabul on Tuesday morning, with gunfire and explosions erupting at one of the gates of the complex in the Afghan capital.
Egypt's defence minister has warned that the army will intervene if violence breaks out in the country where opponents of President Mohamed Morsi are planning rallies against him this month.
Iran's newly-elected president Hassan Rowhani ruled out any halt to the nuclear activity that has drawn UN sanctions but said he hoped an early deal could be reached to allay the concerns of major powers.
The election of the moderate Hassan Rowhani as Iran's new president is a game-changer which could set a new tone and soothe tensions with the West over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.
A Philippine hacker has posted online what he claimed to be the president's personal mobile telephone numbers, with Benigno Aquino's spokesman Saturday denouncing the act as "cyber vandalism".
Argentine ex-president Carlos Menem was sentenced to seven years in prison Thursday for organizing contraband arms shipments to Croatia and Ecuador during his tenure.
The International Criminal Court wants more evidence before deciding whether to try Ivorian ex-president Laurent Gbagbo for crimes against humanity for his role in a bloody election standoff two years ago.
Guatemala extradited former president Alfonso Portillo to the United States on Friday to face charges of laundering $70 million of swindled government funds through US banks.
Ecuador's hugely popular leftist president, Rafael Correa, was sworn in to a second term Friday, with energy reform and expanded overseas trade topping his agenda.