Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has made a rare public appearance at a mosque inDamascus at the start of a Muslim holiday, a photo posted on the presidency's official Twitter feed on Saturday showed.
More than a thousand rival protesters, some wearing helmets, faced off in a densely populated, gritty district of Hong Kong on Saturday, fuelling concerns that the Chinese-controlled city's worst unrest in decades could take a more violent turn.
Iran is not ready to replace Russia as a key gas supplier if sanctions against Tehranare removed, Itar-Tass news agency quoted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as telling Russian TV channel Rossiya 1.
A leading member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian sister party criticised European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi on Saturday, saying he was turning the institute into a "junk bank" with his plans to buy debt rated as junk.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will attend a summit of European and Asian leaders on a trip starting next week that will also include a visit to Germany and the signing of energy and high-speed rail deals with Russia, the government said.
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a leading British Roman Catholic Bishop who acknowledged that he had broken his vows and who was believed to have had an affair with a married woman, the Vatican said on Saturday.
Muslim groups across Britain united on Saturday to join Prime Minister David Cameronin condemning the beheading of aid worker Alan Henning by Islamic State insurgents, with one leading cleric calling it a "despicable and offensive act".
Bolivian President Evo Morales announced a $2 billion plan to build a nuclear energy power plant and research facilities in the next two decades. Bolivia will be helped by various countries including Argentina, France, Russia and Iran.
A new video shows the fourth beheading of a Western hostage at the hands of ISIL. Alan Henning, a British aid worker captured in Syria, was beheaded by ISIL in retaliation to British actions against the group.
Angry locals, believing the British TV crew and cast insulted their country, attacked the group of cars as they attempted to leave Argentina. The South American nation lost the 1982 Falklands War to the U.K.
A new study has traced the origins of HIV back to the early 20th century in the western region of Congo. From there, scientists say that the deadly virus spread throughout Africa over the next several decades, and eventually turned into a worldwide epidemic, infecting 75 million people.
