The front-runners in France's presidential election, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande, hold rival rallies in Paris one week before the polls.

The first United Nations monitors arrive in Syria, as part of a peace deal aimed at ending over a year of violence, UN officials say.

Disagreement about inviting Cuba to their next meeting splits leaders at the Sixth Summit of the Americas, and there is no final declaration.

A Swiss woman is abducted from her home in the rebel-held northern Malian city of Timbuktu, officials and residents say.

Fighting in the Afghan capital has ended, officials say, more than 18 hours after the siege by Taliban militants began.

Joint US-Philippine military exercises get under way in the South China Sea, with Manila locked in a stand-off with Beijing over a disputed shoal.

Australia says it is lifting travel and financial restrictions against more than 200 Burmese nationals, including President Thein Sein.

East Timor votes for a new president in a run-off between two former freedom fighters, ahead of a decade of independence next month.