Tensions escalated in Sudan on Monday after talks broke down between protesters and the country s military rulers, who called for the reopening of roads blocked by sit-ins established during the uprising that drove President Omar al-Bashir from power. The protesters, who have been rallying outside the military headquarters in Khartoum since April 6, have demanded a swift handover of power to civilians. A military council has ruled since al-Bashir was forced from office on April 11 after nearly four months of mass protests against his 30-year rule.

The UN s Libya envoy warned Thursday of "a widening conflagration" in the North African country, saying international divisions had encouraged strongman Khalifa Haftar to launch his assault on Tripoli. But for now, Ghassan Salame told AFP in an interview, there was "deadlock" in fighting south of the capital between Haftar s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) and the internationally recognised government.

The U.N. Security Council is considering a British-drafted resolution that would demand a ceasefire in Libya and call on all countries with influence over the warring parties to ensure compliance. Diplomats from the 15-member council are due to meet later on Tuesday to discuss the text that also calls for unconditional humanitarian aid access in Libya, which has been gripped by anarchy and conflict since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011.

Nations expressed solidarity with France after the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral and offered their support for the recovery. Monday s fire collapsed the spire and burned through the roof of the 12th-century building, sparking an outpouring of grief and reminiscing of visits to the Parisian landmark. President Donald Trump called the cathedral "one of the great treasures of the world.

Sudanese protest organisers Monday called on their supporters to mobilise outside the army headquarters, saying there was an attempt to "disperse the sit-in" where thousands have camped out for 10 days. The Sudanese Professionals Association did not say who was attempting to break up the crowd, but witnesses said several army vehicles had surrounded the area.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Sunday defended Donald Trump against accusations that he was inciting violence against a Muslim congresswoman after the president tweeted a video of her spliced with footage of the 9/11 attacks. Ilhan Omar, a Democratic lawmaker from Minnesota, has been at the center of an escalating row following a speech she made about Islamophobia in which she was accused by conservatives of downplaying the deadliest attacks on US soil by characterizing the event as "some people did something."

Challenges facing the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) extend beyond pressures against its budget. Russia s military expansion outside its borders and into regions such as Crimea, Ukraine and Syria is causing the ire of NATO member states. Also raising tensions in the organisation are the anticipated repercussions of Russia s imminent withdrawal from the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

The European Union will grant Prime Minister Theresa May a second delay to Brexit at an emergency summit on Wednesday but leaders will debate a longer extension with conditions to prevent any future British leader jeopardising the bloc. In what was cast in London as a national humiliation, May dashed to Berlin and Paris on the eve of the summit to ask Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron to allow her to postpone a divorce that was supposed to have been Britain s liberation .

Algeria s parliament appointed on Tuesday its upper house chairman Abdelkader Bensalah as interim president following the resignation of ailing Abdelaziz Bouteflika after weeks of mass demonstrations against his rule. His appointment is in keeping with Algeria s constitution but protesters, who want sweeping democratic reforms, oppose figures like Bensalah, a close associate of Bouteflika and his inner circle who dominated Algeria for decades.

Sudan s army deployed around its Khartoum headquarters Monday as thousands of protesters urging the military to join calls for leader Omar al-Bashir s resignation defied tear gas to demonstrate for a third day, witnesses said. Since protests erupted across Sudan in December agents of the powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and riot police have cracked down on demonstrators, but the army has not intervened.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday announced the departure of Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, underscoring his intent to toughen immigration policy amid a surge in illegal crossings along the southern border. Nielsen s exit marks the end of a difficult relationship with her boss, who was said to be unhappy with her performance despite her unswerving loyalty and full-throated defense of the president s most controversial policies.

Sudan s army deployed around its Khartoum headquarters Monday as thousands of protesters urging the military to join calls for leader Omar al-Bashir s resignation defied tear gas to demonstrate for a third day, witnesses said. Since protests erupted across Sudan in December agents of the powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and riot police have cracked down on demonstrators, but the army has not intervened.

At least 2,200 people have fled from fighting south of the Libyan capital Tripoli since April 4, the United Nations humanitarian office said in a report on Monday, and many civilians were trapped and cut off from emergency services. "The fast increasing deployment of forces could potentially result in significant population displacement," the report said. It said aid agencies on the ground had enough emergency medical supplies and trauma kits to treat up to 210,000 individuals and 900 injuries for three months.

Turkey s main opposition candidate in Istanbul said on Thursday a recount of Sunday s local election votes was partially complete and the difference between him and the ruling AK party candidate remained around 20,000. Initial results from the elections showed the opposition Republican People s Party (CHP) had narrowly won control of Turkey s two biggest cities, Istanbul and Ankara, in an upset for President Tayyip Erdogan s ruling AK Party (AKP).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Moscow on Thursday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, just five days before parliamentary elections at home. The vote is largely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu, who has campaigned on his foreign policy prowess and relations with world leaders.

Algeria s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned on Tuesday, succumbing to a groundswell of public pressure after weeks of mass protests against his 20-year rule. The ailing, 82-year-old leader announced he was standing down in a statement carried by state news agency APS, shortly after the army chief of staff demanded immediate action to remove him from office.

Turkish electoral authorities on Wednesday began recounting votes from Istanbul districts after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan s ruling AKP challenged tallies showing an opposition candidate narrowly won a weekend local election. The AKP won most votes nationwide in Sunday s municipal ballot, but results also showed the party lost the capital Ankara and the country s economic hub Istanbul in one of its worst setbacks in a decade and a half in power.

British Prime Minister Theresa May will chair several hours of cabinet meetings on Tuesday in an attempt to plot a course out of the Brexit maelstrom as she comes under pressure to either leave the European Union without a deal or call an election. Nearly three years since the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU in a shock referendum result, British politics is in crisis and it is unclear how, when or if it will ever leave the club it first joined in 1973.

Continued reforms are needed in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in order to increase labour productivity and encourage innovation and competition, the World Bank said in a report published on Monday. The World Bank s biannual MENA Economic Update report said that the growth in the region in 2018 was led by developing oil importers such as Egypt, which accounted for 8 percent of MENA s GDP that year, with a forecast of 5.5 percent growth in 2019.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Monday acknowledged that the demands of anti-government protesters were "legitimate" but said they had been expressed unlawfully causing several deaths. Protests have rocked the east African country since December, with demonstrators calling on the veteran leader to step down.

British MPs will try again to chart a new Brexit path on Monday after rejecting Prime Minister Theresa May s deal for a third time, but the EU warned its patience was wearing thin. Less than two weeks before Britain risks crashing out of the European Union, MPs will hold a second round of votes on various options to try to break the political deadlock.