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Deadly explosions rocked cities across Iraq Wednesday, killing at least 72 people and wounding nearly 260. The bombings coincided with an annual Shi'ite pilgrimage to honor a revered 8th century religious figure.

Unabated violence killed 10 more people in Syria Tuesday with government forces allegedly bombarding a residential area with mortar shells, amid a mounting pressure on President Bashar Assad following a startling UN revelation that children as young as 8 years old have been used as human shields by security forces.

Thousands of Russian anti-government protesters took part in a major rally in Moscow to demand fresh elections and a new president, in defiance of a new law increasing fines for those who hold unsanctioned protests.

Russia on Wednesday defended its sale of arms to Syria and stepped up the rhetoric by accusing the United States of providing weapons to the Syrian rebels.

Smoke drifts into the sky from buildings and houses hit by shelling in Homs, Syria.

More than 20 people have been killed in western Burma's Rakhine State, as international pressure mounts for an end to the sectarian fighting between ethnic-Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims.

Pakistan is downplaying a breakdown in U.S.-Pakistan negotiations on the re-opening of supply routes to NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is deeply concerned over an increase in the level of violence in Syria and calls for an immediate end to the fighting there, his spokesperson said today.

The United States announced additional exceptions from U.S. financial sanctions on Iran Monday. These exemptions will go to countries that have significantly reduced their imports of Iranian oil.