The leader of the strife-torn Central Africa Republic asked French troops Monday to stay until polls due in early 2015, as unabated sectarian violence wrecked Paris' hope of a quick exit.
The chief of Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, vowed on Sunday that the group would prevail against extremists fighting in neighbouring Syria.
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.
Azerbaijani forces say they have captured an Armenian spy following the latest in a series of tit-for-tat raids along the volatile frontier between the two arch-foes.
Syrian rebels and government troops clashed Sunday in restive districts of Damascus, a monitoring group said, as representatives of the warring sides met for peace talks in Geneva.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday condemned US troops for killing a four-year-old boy in the southern province of Helmand, in a fresh strain to troubled relations between Washington and Kabul.
South Sudan's warring parties were set to begin direct talks Saturday in a bid to end the conflict pushing the world's youngest nation towards civil war as fighting intensified for control of a key oil town.
Six Taliban suicide attackers launched an assault on a joint Afghan-NATO base in the east of Afghanistan on Saturday, killing one NATO soldier during a prolonged firefight, officials said.
The Red Cross said Thursday it had recovered some 40 bodies on the streets of Bangui as the United States expressed alarm at the latest eruption of fighting in the Central African Republic.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he would not be bullied into signing a security pact to allow US troops to stay on after next year, as he tried to persuade India Friday to provide more military assistance.
The United States is committed to maintaining a 35,000-strong force in the Gulf region regardless of a nuclear deal with Iran, Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel said Saturday in Bahrain.
Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday he had nailed down terms governing the presence of US troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014, just hours before Afghan leaders debate the deal.
By suspending military aid to Egypt, Washington is pressing Cairo to end the bloodshed on the streets but its largely "symbolic" act is unlikely to have a concrete impact.
The United States hit out Wednesday at Russian troops' efforts to build a de facto border in the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
A top Pentagon official said Friday it would be a "tragedy" if Afghan and US negotiators failed to clinch a deal allowing US troops to stay in the country after 2014.
Kenyan troops are "in control" of Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall, the Kenyan interior ministry announced overnight Monday, with all the hostages trapped by Islamist gunmen believed to have been freed.
Dozens of people trapped in a deadly urban battle between Muslim rebels and Philippine troops rushed to safety Tuesday as the guerrillas lost ground in more heavy fighting.