Afghan President-elect Ashraf Ghani and his key political rival, Abdullah Abdullah, have held two parallel inauguration ceremonies following a disputed September election as mediation efforts by US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad failed to lessen the strife, a Sputnik correspondent reported

A Turkish-language television channel misheard a compliment by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan as expression of affection, the Russian ministry said Saturday

EU foreign ministers, during their extraordinary meeting on Friday, called for a de-escalation in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib to avoid a full-blown armed conflict between militants and government troops

The German government is still open to holding a four-way summit on Syria's Idlib, spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Friday, a day after Russia and Turkey agreed to a ceasefire in the restive province

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in France has increased to 73 prompting the authorities to put restrictions on mass public events, for example canceling the Paris Half Marathon, French Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Saturday