UNITED NATIONS

The Arab League urged the Syrian government Sunday to stop its violence against protesters and allow Arab monitors in the country to work more independently, but stopped short of asking for United Nations experts to bolster its peace mission.

Arab League monitors will say on Sunday that Syria is defying a plan to end its crackdown on peaceful protests, Al Jazeera reported, as Arab foreign ministers prepared to discuss the findings of the mission.

Iran's underground uranium-enrichment facility will begin operations soon, a senior official was quoted by Iranian media on Sunday as saying, The move is likely to boost tension between the Islamic state and the West over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

American Airlines, US Airways, and United Continental have all joined Delta in adding a $3 surcharge to fares purchased in the United States for flights to Europe in response to the EU's new Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

The second suicide attack in two weeks killed up to 25 people as an explosion rocked a busy intersection in Damascus Syria, Friday

Hundreds of thousands of Burmese Ronhingya are currently living in neighboring Bangladesh, where they are unwanted refugees

Representatives of the rival factions Fatah and Hamas are pursuing contrasting approaches to building support for the Palestinian cause, with Fatah engaged in apparently fruitless peace talks with Israel while Hamas' leader pays visits to newly empowered Islamist governments across the region. While the two developments are not directly related, they nevertheless offer a glimpse of how the Palestinian peace process might play out in a region reshaped by popular uprisings.

Assad’s regime has thus far spent about $40-million on militias to brutalize the opposition.

Hutu rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda are murdering civilians in the eastern Congo.

Opposition activists said Wednesday that armored vehicles were still in the streets of Syrian cities ready to act against protesters, contradicting statements by Arab League peace monitors that troops had withdrawn.

On Tuesday, Delta became the first airline to add a surcharge on flights to and from Europe after the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme went into affect.

Youssou N'Dour is running for president of Senegal. The singer will try to capture the youth vote in an effort to upset the 85-year-old incumbent Abdoulaye Wade.

Youssou N'Dour, the Senegalese music star, has said he will stand in the presidential election scheduled for late February.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators made no breakthrough during their first high-level discussions in more than a year Tuesday, but agreed to hold further talks in Amman on a confidential basis, Jordan's foreign minister said.

Gathering in the Jordanian capital on Tuesday, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have come together in an effort to jumpstart long-stalled negotiations, the first face-to-face meeting in more than a year.

The tiny central African nation of Rwanda elected the world's first women-dominated legislature.

Saying the Korean peninsula was at a turning point, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Monday urged North Korea to embrace a new era by using its new change of government head to transform Korean ties.

More violence in South Sudan as two ethnic groups resume an old battle. Around 1,000 people have died in recent months and the latest assault on a town has overwhelmed the United Nations.

As violence persists, and gunfire continues to threaten civilian lives, a pan-Arab body called Sunday for the immediate withdrawal of Arab League monitors in Syria, saying President Bashar al-Assad's government maintains violence despite their presence.

Iran symbolically threatened the U.S. and Israel on two fronts Monday: the testing of new long-range rockets and the production of a nuclear fuel rod.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will meet this week after more than a year of deadlock in peacemaking, officials said Sunday, but both sides played down prospects of any imminent resumption of talks.