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A senior Russian defense official said Moscow will no longer sell any weapons to Syria until the situation there calms down, as a Syrian activist group said the death toll from the Syrian conflict has surpassed 17,000.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

In Homs, Syria, smoke drifts into the sky from buildings and houses hit by shelling.

Senior officials from the international community are pledging billions of dollars more in civil aid for Afghanistan amid concerns terrorism and corruption still threaten progress made in the country during the past decade.

Foreign ministers from the United States, Afghanistan, and Pakistan met Sunday on the sidelines of an Afghan donor conference in Japan to discuss cross-border cooperation and security. They called on Taliban fighters to join Afghan reconciliation efforts.

France and Germany briefly patched up their differences over the eurozone crisis, as their leaders met in the northern French town of Reims to mark the 50th anniversary of their post-war reconciliation.

Libyans went to the polls Saturday for the country's first multi-party election in 60 years. Midway through the day of voting, there no disruptions or major incidents. It was an emotional moment for people who have lived through 42 years of dictatorship and a bloody revolution.

Nearly three million Libyans have registered to vote in the country's first multi-party election in 60 years, set for Saturday. They will choose among 1400 candidates for a 200-seat National Assembly that will form a temporary government and draft a constitution, leading to another election next year.

A Tuareg clinic in Kati, Mali, that was recently ransacked.

A parliamentary report in Japan concludes the meltdowns last year at the Fukushima nuclear power plant were clearly a man-made disaster, and that the facility was vulnerable to earthquakes.