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The Arab Spring has given Kurds across the Middle East new hopes for independence through political means. But some are worried an armed Kurdish insurgency operating in four countries may ultimately derail national aspirations.

A Syrian refugee registers with a UNHCR staff member in Lebanon to receive assistance.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called for an immediate de-escalation of tensions amid the new wave of violence in Gaza and southern Israel, which has resulted in several Palestinian deaths, including civilians, and wounded people on both sides.

Acting Joint Special Representative and Joint Chief Mediator of UNAMID Aïchatou Mindaoudou.

Gunmen in northern Kenya have killed at least 34 police officers who were hunting for cattle rustlers. Kenyan police say the officers were ambushed Saturday as their truck drove through the remote northern Baragoi district.

Israel fired a missile into Syria in what the military described as a “warning shot,” after a stray mortar shell fired from Syria landed near an Israeli military post in the Golan Heights. It was the first time Israel fired into Syria since the civil war erupted there more than a year and a half ago.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he will not leave his country and warned against foreign military intervention in Syria. Meanwhile, Syrian rebel fighters are reportedly intensifying attacks, claiming to have captured another border post with Turkey in the Kurdish northeast of the country.

Heads of state from Afghanistan to Australia gathered on the resort island of Bali Thursday for the opening of the fifth Bali Democracy Forum. Tensions in Syria and criticism of the United Nations Security Council are the hot topics of the day - as were scathing comments by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Newly re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama faces an immediate confrontation with Congress over key tax and spending issues even before he is sworn in for a second term in January.