UNITED NATIONS

East Timor is holding the presidential run-off elections Monday and more than 700,000 eligible voters are expected to cast their votes in 650 polling booths. Two former freedom fighters -Francisco Guterres and Taur Matan Ruak - are in a close race in the run-off.

Addressing Israeli concerns on Iran buying extra time of five weeks over its alleged clandestine nuclear weapons program during the first round of key talks with the six world powers, US President Barack Obama said his administration has not given anything away, defending the need for a diplomatic resolution.

Syrian government forces shelled Homs on Sunday, residents of the rebellious city said, as a six-person advance party of U.N. observers is due to arrive in Syria to monitor a ceasefire.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted Saturday to send a team of international observers on a peacekeeping mission to Syria in the midst of the country's tenuous cease-fire.

It's been 14 months since protests forced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resign, but a number of his former ministers are still wielding real power, and they could holding onto it for the foreseeable future.

The growing conflict between Sudan and South Sudan will likely dominate the first annual Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa

Syrian opposition leaders called for massive peaceful demonstrations around the country on Friday, just one day after the deadline of a joint Arab League-United Nations cease-fire expired.

Failure of the satellite and rocket, launched to mark the ascendancy of Kim Jong-un and celebrate the 100th birthday of North Korea's founder, the late Kim Il-sung, sparked fears the country will pursue further launches nuclear tests.

With the election of Suu Kyi into Myanmar's parliament, some Rohingya are optimistically cautious.

North Korea launched its long-awaited rocket Friday morning, but it fell apart within minutes, U.S. officials said.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sternly rebuked North Korea on Thursday for its planned rocket launch, which is scheduled to take place sometime before Tuesday.

What will future generations know about everyday life in 2012? Swedish organization aday.org hopes to make things easier by creating a visual archive, documenting A Day In The World as it looked on May 15, 2012.

The Kimberley Process only addresses diamonds produced in areas controlled by rebel militias. It doesn’t take into consideration violence committed by government forces.

The focus now turns to Friday, when activists have called for the largest demonstrations against the continued rule of President Bashar al-Assad in a move set to test the regime's willingness to hold to the truce.

Sudan is now in a state of war after troops from South Sudan seized the disputed, oil-rich border town of Heglig. Negotiations between the two countries have been suspend as forces are mobilized.

Syria was due to observe a ceasefire from dawn Thursday, but its fierce attacks on opposition neighborhoods in the run up to the U.N. deadline fuelled widespread doubts it would comply.

Jim Yong Kim, the U.S. nominee to head the World Bank, on Wednesday told the bank's board of directors that he would not hesitate to question the status quo and do his best to help the world's poorest.

A naval standoff in the South China Sea is pitting the Philippines against China, and is highlighting how a growing Chinese military presence in the region may create tension in a resource-rich area.

Despite Kofi Annan's renewed confidence in his Syrian ceasefire plan during his visit to Tehran, many experts believe that the plan has already failed.

After ending exports to Spain and Greece, Iran continued with its counter-sanctions against the European Union on Wednesday by cutting oil exports to Germany.

Desperate to salvage the ceasefire agreement, Annan said peace was still a possibility and urged both sides to stop the violence.