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Kofi Annan, Joint Special Envoy of the UN and the League of Arab States on the Syrian Crisis.

As Syria's main opposition coalition prepares to send a high-level delegation to Moscow, Russia appeared to signal it may eventually distance itself from President Bashar al-Assad's embattled government.

Egypt's new president briefly reconvened parliament Tuesday in defiance of the military, which dissolved the legislature last month based on a high court order. Afterwards, Egypt's highest court has overruled Mohamed Morsi's decision to recall the Islamist-led parliament that was dissolved by the nation's military leaders last month.

Army Sgt. Jason Brassfield, with the Mississippi Army National Guard's 288th Sapper Company, instructs Afghan National Army 1st Lt. Ismatullah, of Route Clearance Company, 4th Brigade, 205th Corps, on the controls of the Talon Robot during a route clearance mission in Uruzgan province Afghanistan, July 7, 2012. The interpreters face has been blurred for security reasons.

Egypt's newly elected president Mohamed Morsi appears on a collision course with the country's powerful military generals after ordering the parliament to reconvene, in defiance of a high court decree last month that dissolved the legislature.

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.