UNITED NATIONS

Now the Palestinian spring has arrived, asking for freedom and an end to the [Israeli] occupation. We deserve your support.

Zimbabwe's economy will grow at a slower pace in 2012 than this year as politics puts a drag on full recovery and inflation should stay in single figures, partly due to prudent fiscal policy, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said on Wednesday.

Libya's top oil body is pursuing international oil firms for bills worth around $6 billion that were left unpaid this year due to U.N. sanctions imposed in March, a source in the National Oil Corporation (NOC) told Reuters this week.

The International Monetary Fund urged Europe on Wednesday to pump as much as 200 billion euros into its banks and warned of a freeze in lending and an ensuing recession if the region's leaders failed to do more to reassure panicky investors.

Turkey’s military coincidentally plans to conduct a routine exercise near the Syrian border through next week.

The Marshall Islands, a tiny nation of atolls in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, has now become something of a Mecca for marine scientists, particularly those who study sharks. On Tuesday, the island nation passed a bill creating the world's largest sanctuary for sharks.

Actually, I can understand [the protesters'] sentiment, frankly, said Billionaire investor George Soros, speaking about the protesters who have camped out near Wall Street in New York and inspired similar anti-corporate demonstrations in other major cities across the United States and Canada.

Rescue workers found at least forty wounded people.

Panetta also advised Israel it must repair deteriorating relations with Turkey and Egypt.

Nigeria experienced an explosion of violence over the weekend, with a number of militant attacks occurring all over the country. On Sunday, 23 people were killed when around 70 attackers stormed the village of Ligyado in Zamfara State armed with AK47 rifles, daggers, machetes and sticks.

China is gaining the upper hand in its much vaunted friendship with Russia due to Beijing's shift away from relying on Moscow for advanced weapons and deep problems with energy cooperation, a report released on Monday said.

Civilians fled Sirte on Friday as interim government forces pounded the coastal city in an effort to dislodge fighters loyal to ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The imminent execution of an Iranian pastor, Youcef Nadarkhani, for the crime of apostasy (converting from Islam to Christianity) has prompted the wave of outrage and concern around the globe:

Newt Gingrich's Contract With America gets an update from the 1994 agreement that launched a Republican takeover of Congress.

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who led a 400-person congregation in Rasht just a few years ago, was arrested on apostasy charges in 2009. He was found guilty of the crime of abandoning Islam and sentenced to death a year later.

Rosh Hashanah, the celebration of the Jewish New Year, has begun which will include 10 days of repentance leading up to the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement.

Al-Qaida voiced its opinion via its English language magazine Inspire, in an editorial which claimed that Ahmadinejad might have been jealous of Iran's inability to attack the United States itself.

In Syria, anti-government protesters continue undeterred as President Bashar al-Assad intensifies his forceful crackdown against demonstrations. Over the last five days, at least 76 people have been killed in the northern cities of Homs and Hama and in the southern Daraa region, according to activist reports.

Iran's navy will send ships into the Atlantic Ocean, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported Tuesday. The vessels will sail out of the Persian Gulf and toward the United States' East Coast as retaliation for American ships in the Persian Gulf.

Saudi Arabia has called for the inclusion of Palestine in the United Nations, signaling that the United States is losing key support of many traditional allies in the Middle East.

Pakistan warned the United States on Tuesday to stop accusing it of playing a double game with Islamist militants and heaped praise on all-weather friend China.