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(From left) Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, and Gianni Pittella, acting president of the European Parliament ©The Council of the European Union

As Pakistani forces target Islamist militants in the volitile northwest, the government faces a huge challenge to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people displaced because of the military operation.

Two of the World Heritage mausoleums destroyed in Timbuktu have now been rebuilt through a partnership with local communities, the United Nations cultural agency said, adding that it will need an additional $8 million to finish the rehabilitation of the site and of libraries that could again store hundreds of thousands of Malian manuscripts.

This week the United States and Philippines launched military joint exercises in the South China Sea. With a newly signed military agreement between the treaty allies, the Philippines, which is locked in a dispute with China over territorial claims in the sea, is now heavily focused on beefing up its maritime capabilities.

A displaced child in a makeshift camp in the Golan area of Gurbaz district, Khost province.

Officials in southern India say a state-owned gas pipeline has exploded, killing 13 people.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses the 23rd African Union (AU) Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

North Korea can fire long-range missiles significantly faster, following upgrades to its launch sites, a U.S. expert has observed.

Efforts by the Turkish government to end a decade-long insurgency by Kurdish rebels is under threat, as controversial military construction projects across Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast have been causing violent protests as peace efforts remain stalled.

On Friday the European Council will adopt the 2014 country-specific recommendations for each EU member state. MEPs regularly point out that the member state governments have been slow to act on these recommendations. This view is corroborated by a new European Parliament study showing that on average, only 18% of the 2011 and 2012 recommendations have been fully implemented.