UNTIED NATIONS: The Security Council has extended the mandate of the UN mission in Afghanistan by one year, giving the world body central role in coordinating humanitarian activities being carried out by various bodies in the war-ravaged country.

Ex-Soviet Moldova wants major powers to sign a declaration guaranteeing its neutrality, its president said, a step that could ease the way for a peace deal over its breakway Transdniestria region.

Azerbaijani and ethnic Armenian forces exchanged more gunfire near the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh over the weekend, killing two civilians and at least two soldiers, officials said Monday.