Globalsecurity.org

Serbia and its neighbors Kosovo and Albania have descended into a bitter diplomatic ruckus after officials in Belgrade invoked a slur against ethnic Albanians and spoke degradingly of efforts to find the remains of victims of internecine Balkan conflict two decades ago.

Two former political prisoners in Uzbekistan are demanding financial compensation from the government over "unjust convictions" and the suffering they endured in the country's notorious Jaslyk Prison.

Turkmenistan's authoritarian President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has replaced several officials, regional judges, and prosecutors.

Beijing recently accused the US of being the main factor leading to the militarisation of the South China Sea – something that has also been condemned by Washington. Chinese authorities have argued that the US military's activities in the area undermine regional efforts to resolve territorial disputes.

The USS John S. McCain entered waters of China's Xisha Islands in the South China Sea on Friday without China's approval, and was warned and told to leave by the People's Liberation Army Southern Theater Command, said Senior Colonel Zhang Nandong, a spokesperson for the command on Friday.

China urges the United States to immediately stop provocations, strictly manage and control its maritime and air military operations so as to avoid any eventuality, said Senior Colonel Zhang Nandong, spokesperson for the Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), in a written statement on Friday.

NATO has dismissed US President Donald Trump's surprise announcement to pull out all of US forces from Afghanistan by the end of the year, saying that members of the military alliance will decide together on when to withdraw forces from the war-ravaged country.

The text of the following statement was released by the Governments of the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan on the occasion of the inaugural Afghanistan – Turkmenistan – United States of America Trilateral Meeting.

The United States is deeply concerned by the attack on a United Nations World Food Program (WFP) humanitarian cargo convoy in South Sudan this week.

Today, the U.S. Government imposed sanctions on Ana Julia Guido Ochoa (Guido), Paul Oquist Kelley (Oquist), and Caja Rural Nacional (Caruna), pursuant to Executive Order 13851 ("Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Nicaragua").

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Nicaraguan financial institution Cooperativa De Ahorro Y Credito Caja Rural Nacional RL, as well as Attorney General Ana Julia Guido De Romero and Secretary of the Presidency Paul Herbert Oquist Kelley, in an effort to target key financial operations and government officials that continue to undermine Nicaragua's democracy.

Amid escalating hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights appealed on Friday for an urgent ceasefire and for greater protection to be given to those caught up in the violence.

Both Armenia and Azerbaijan previously confirmed their readiness to engage in negotiations that are expected to take place in Moscow later on Friday.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev says he is giving Armenia a "last chance" to resolve a conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh as his country will reclaim the territory "either via peace or by war."

Out of the sky, whirring its distinctively terrifying buzz, a drone zipped over the arid landscape as soldiers fired rifles at it and then slammed into a small bus, sending up a fiery plume.

Russia says Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to attend peace talks in Moscow amid fighting in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Turkey says efforts toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh are bound to fail unless a withdrawal of Armenian forces from the territory is ensured.

Armenia's Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and his Azeri counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov, have met in Russia's capital, Moscow, for the first time since the eruption of the deadliest fighting between Armenian and Azeri troops in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in more than two decades.

U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called for an "urgent cease-fire" in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region Friday as nearly two weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan has taken a heavy toll on civilians.

The U.N. refugee agency is racing to help tens of thousands of Congolese forced to flee a recent upsurge of violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.