Simmering tensions between Russia and Ukraine have soared unexpectedly in recent days after Moscow accused Kiev of attempting armed incursions into the Crimea peninsula it annexed in 2014.

The charge list against the United States within Turkey over last month's failed coup is long and, for some, damning.

Only a miracle can save recession-hit Brazil's suspended president Dilma Rousseff from being sacked for good now that senators have voted to open an impeachment trial, analysts say.

The scandal is expected to end 13 years of leftist rule in Latin America's biggest economy, currently rocked by economic and political instability as it hosts the Olympic Games.

Sometimes even good friends can have a bad falling out.

While grain silos in many Western countries may overflow this winter, tens of millions of people risk going without food as hunger is being used more than ever as a weapon of war.

More than 50 million people living in 17 conflict-ridden countries are in "severe food insecurity," two U.N. agencies warned recently.

Syria's Kurds dreamt of an economic success story when they declared an autonomous region in the country's north, an area rich in oil resources and known as a breadbasket.

From the roads of Pennsylvania and corridors of power in Washington to the public squares of Cologne and EU offices in Brussels, the shockwaves from the July 15 failed coup have gone well beyond Turkey.

The United States has opened a new front in its campaign against the Islamic State group, launching air strikes to support Libyan forces battling to oust the jihadists from Sirte.

Key dates since the Islamic State group (IS) moved into Libya in 2014 amid the chaos that followed the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

Venezuelan electoral authorities are due to meet Monday to rule on the opposition's bid for a referendum on removing President Nicolas Maduro from power amid an economic implosion.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) left the opposition hanging last Tuesday, its original deadline to rule on whether Maduro's opponents had successfully gathered 200,000 signatures on a petition to make the leftist leader face a recall vote.