France opposes foreign intervention in Lebanon but will do its best to encourage the election of a new president as soon as possible, French President François Hollande said Tuesday. “France is ready to take initiative in international gatherings to speed up the presidential election process,” Hollande told Maronite Patriarch Beshara …

Rebels from northern Mali have told mediators they will initial a long-delayed United Nations-brokered peace proposal on the future of Mali’s north next month, a spokesman for the lead separatist group said late on Sunday. The government, based in the capital Bamako in the country’s south, and another coalition of …

Pro-government armed groups in Mali seized the northern town of Menaka from Tuareg separatists on Monday during fierce fighting, a spokesman for the group and a resident said. The clashes come after months of relative calm and risk derailing a fragile United Nations peace process that aims to settle the …