Negotiations were under way with Syrian rebels who seized 21 UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights ceasefire zone between Syria and Israel, as rebels took total control of the key northern city of Raqa.
Claiming to have killed two Islamist leaders in the Mali conflict so far, Chad is emerging as a regional superpower whose strong army is brushing up the image of what was once most known as one of the world's poorest nations.
Pakistan's largest city Karachi shut down on Monday to mourn 45 people killed by a car bomb in a Shiite Muslim neighbourhood, the latest in a series of devastating attacks as Pakistan prepares for elections.
Syria and ally Russia denounced a US pledge to provide direct non-lethal aid to rebel fighters, saying it will fuel more violence in the two-year conflict.
Al-Qaeda's top commander in Mali has been killed, Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno said Friday, in what would be one of the most significant blows to the rebels in the seven-week French-led intervention against Islamist insurgents.
The United States has announced it will provide direct aid to Syrian rebels, but not the arms they had hoped for, as well as $60 million in extra assistance to the political opposition.
Israel has called on the Palestinian Authority to rein in unrest as militants vowed revenge over the death of a prisoner whom the Palestinians allege died under Israeli torture.
Regional African leaders signed a deal to try to bring peace to the war-torn east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with plans to reinforce a UN-led mission to combat rebels after years of unrest.
The Syrian army's use of surface-to-surface missiles on Aleppo is part of a bid to advance on the northern city, swathes of which have fallen into rebel hands since mid-2012.
Russia on Thursday accused US diplomats of blocking a UN Security Council condemnation of a bomb attack in the Syrian capital that left at least 59 dead.
A huge car bomb near the headquarters of Syria's ruling party killed nearly 60 people and caused widespread destruction in the deadliest attack to hit Damascus since the civil war erupted.
US Secretary of State John Kerry finally talked Sunday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who had been unavailable for days after the North Korean nuclear test.
Gunmen have killed an Iranian commander in Syria as rebels shot down two fighter jets and overran a town, dealing further setbacks for forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
US President Barack Obama vowed to maintain the pressure on the Syrian regime and to defend human rights in the Middle East on Tuesday, but offered no new ideas to halt bloodshed in the Arab world.
Syrian rebels launched fierce assaults on government troops in several parts of the country on Sunday, as a UN envoy urged the leader of the opposition to seek dialogue with the Damascus regime.
Thousands of protesters clashed with police in several Egyptian provinces in rallies calling on Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to fulfil the goals of the revolt that brought him to power.
Gunmen killed at least 10 people in horrifying attacks on two Nigerian polio clinics on Friday that dealt a new blow to the campaign to wipe out the disease.
Syria's army has launched a fierce assault around Damascus, blasting rebel strongholds and sealing the main entrances to the capital, witnesses said, as prospects for peace talks dimmed.
Israel has implicitly confirmed it staged an air strike on Syria last week, with President Bashar al-Assad accusing the Jewish state of trying to further destabilise his war-torn country.
