AFP - Turkey on Sunday stepped up its offensive against Kurdish militia in Syria for a ninth, in a campaign that has strained relations with the United States.

AFP - Some 1,600 people have been invited to the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi next week for a Syria peace congress with the aim of agreeing a post-war constitution, Moscow said Thursday.

AFP - The United Nations will make a fresh push from Thursday to jump-start Syrian peace talks, as violence continues to rage in a seven-year-old war that has killed more than 340,000 people.

AFP - Turkish troops and their Syrian rebel allies pressed an assault on a border enclave held by Kurdish militia on Tuesday but the fighting was more narrowly focused, a monitor said.

AFP - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday vowed that Turkey would not take any step back in its operation against Kurdish militia in Syria's Afrin region, saying the campaign had the backing of Moscow.

AFP - Turkey on Friday started shelling the Syrian town of Afrin held by a US-backed Kurdish militia that Ankara considers "terrorists" in a move to oust them, the defence minister said.

AFP - US President Donald Trump is "very eager" to speak to the special counsel overseeing the Russia election meddling probe into claims that he colluded with Moscow, his lawyer said.

REUTERS - Twenty nations agreed on Tuesday to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Pyongyang it could trigger a military response if it did not choose negotiations.

REUTERS - The Syrian government hit back on Thursday against French criticism of its military campaign in rebel-held Idlib, saying it was targeting terrorist groups that were not party to an agreement to reduce fighting in the rebel-held region.