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UN peacekeepers in South Sudan securing the entrance to their Juba compound.

This week Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe compared his country's tense relationship with China to that of England and Germany before the outbreak of World War I.

Negotiators for the South Sudan government and opposition forces signed two agreements Thursday to end nearly six weeks of conflict that have claimed thousands of lives and displaced more than half a million.

Egyptian authorities said a car bomb that exploded Friday near security headquarters in Cairo has claimed the lives of at least three people and left 35 others wounded. A few hours later, another blast across the Nile River outside a Metro station in the neighborhood of Dokki killed one person and wounded several others.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressing a lunch of his MDG Advocacy Group in Davos, Switzerland.

Thai anti-government demonstrators in Bangkok remained defiant on the first day of a state of emergency in the capital. Analysts say fears of further violence and uncertainty remain in the lead up to elections on February 2.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran did not agree to dismantle anything in the recent nuclear deal with the United States and five other countries.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses High-level Segment of the UN peace conference on Syria in Montreux, Switzerland.

Syrian peace talks are scheduled to start Wednesday in Switzerland, nearly three years after the start of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. The government in Damascus is rejecting calls that it share power, saying these talks should be about fighting terrorism.