Syrian defence minister General Daoud Rajha died in a suicide attack in Damascus on Wednesday, as raging battles across the capital upped the stakes ahead of a Security Council vote on the Syria crisis.

Turkey's president said on Saturday his country will take ‘necessary’, but unspecified, action against Syria, a day after Damascus said it had brought down a Turkish military plane that had entered its air space.

Pakistan's new Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf retained most key members of former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani's cabinet in the same positions as he allocated portfolios among his council of ministers.

A bomb ripped through a market area in a northwest Pakistan tribal town near the Afghan border on Saturday, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 20, officials said.

Sachin Tendulkar was presented the Wisden India Outstanding Achievement award for completing a century of 100 international hundreds here.

The Pakistan-based Haqqani network is suspected to have carried out the brazen suicide attacks on Western embassies and Parliament here, the Afghan interior minister has said.

The head of Al Qaeda is calling on Muslims across the Arab world and beyond to support rebels in Syria who are seeking to overthrow President Bashar Assad, and says they cannot depend on the West for help.

At least three people were killed and 257 wounded on Friday as Egyptian protesters and security forces clashed in the worst violence in weeks, overshadowing the vote count in the latest round of a landmark general election.

Mullah Omar urges Taliban not to hurt civilians

Russian envoy Mikhail Margelov was headed for Tripoli on Thursday seeking to mediate in Libya's conflict, as rebels made gains in the west and Nato insisted it needs no ground troops to back its mission.