Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet leader of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, Ahmed al-Jarba, in Moscow Feb 4, the Russian foreign ministry said Friday.

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan arrived in Cairo on Thursday night ahead of scheduled talks with top Egyptian officials on Friday. Zeidan is scheduled to hold talks with Interim President Adly Mansour, Prime Minister

Activists say the latest Syrian Government shelling has killed at least 16 people in a rebel—held area of the northern city of Aleppo.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said he plans to meet Ukraine opposition leaders during the Munich Security Conference.

The U.S. on Thursday blamed the Syrian government for slow progress in removing its stockpiled chemical weapons, urging Damascus to take “necessary steps” to expedite the process.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to push for a “constructive dialogue” in Ukraine amid the ongoing unrest in the country. Merkel held telephone talks with the Russian leader asking him to “push at his end for a constructive dialogue between the opposition and government,” the Chancellor’s office said in a statement. 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday said the operation to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons programme is “now behind schedule” despite Damascus’ ability to speed up the process. Ban told the Security Council in a report that “while remaining aware of the challenging security situation, it is the assessment”

The Ukrainian parliament approved a bill late Wednesday to grant amnesty to protesters arrested during the anti-government rallies in Kiev and other major Ukrainian cities, the parliament’s press service said Thursday.

In a setback to Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed his petition seeking a review of its verdict that declared as unconstitutional the 2007 emergency imposed by the embattled former dictator. A 14—judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, said the time period for filing an …

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen criticised Russiaon Wednesday for pressuring Kiev not to sign a free trade pact with the European Union, a move that triggered mass protests.