Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon discussed Thursday the escalating humanitarian crisis and increasing sectarian violence in Syria with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Broken diplomatic ties between Georgia and Russia are unlikely to be mended unless Moscow stops recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgia’s foreign minister said.

Tunisian police shot dead an Islamist militant in Tunis and two soldiers were killed in a blast near the Algerian border on Sunday, as the government grappled with growing security and political crises.