Mohamed Ibrahim fled to Ethiopia to seek relief from a harsh drought devastating his country Somalia, but misery stalked him in refuge where malnutrition recently killed his one-year-old son.

The desperate exodus by tens of thousands of Somalis to find assistance across borders has taken them to refugee settlements, where spartan living conditions, congestion and threat of disease are making survival difficult.

The Palestinian foreign minister has said that the Palestinians expect their bid for United Nations recognition will receive a boost from Lebanon's taking over the presidency of the U.N. Security Council.

Riad Malki said Saturday the Palestinians will press ahead as planned with their independence bid in late September.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas revealed he held four secret meetings with Israeli President Shimon Peres in a bid to revive stalled peace talks, a Palestinian official said Saturday.

He quoted Abbas as saying at a meeting of his Fatah party on Friday that: "I met Shimon Peres four times in Amman and London in an attempt to restart negotiations and the peace process on a correct foundation."

Five members of the same family were killed Saturday when a roadside bomb ripped through their minivan in insurgency-hit southern Afghanistan, an official said.

The incident happened in Gereshk, a volatile district of Helmand province, as the family traveled to Helmand's main town Lashkar Gah, provincial spokesman Daud Ahmadi said.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon revealed on Friday that Lebanon and Israel agreed to discuss issues of maritime security through a tripartite mechanism and the possible assistance of local experts, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Saturday.

He made the announcement in a report he presented to the U.N. Security Council.

A remarkable trove from Pakistan's little-known Buddhist past has gone on show in New York in an art exhibition that defied floods, riots and explosive U.S.-Pakistani relations before finally crossing the world.

The against-the-odds exhibition, "The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara," features sculptures that have mostly never before been seen in the United States.

The Palestinians "strongly condemn" an Israeli decision to approve the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem, a Palestinian official told Agence France Presse on Thursday.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat denounced the Israeli interior ministry's announcement Thursday that it had given final approval for the construction of 1,600 homes in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo.

About 400 couples are competing in this year's World Tango Championships beginning next week in Argentina's capital, organizers said Wednesday.

More than 500 artists also will participate in the festival that starts Tuesday and runs through Aug. 30.

Hizbullah said Wednesday that the March 14 general-secretariat “has ignored the statement issued by the U.N., which denied accusing” the party of being involved in Syria’s violence, noting that “this group did not settle for the fabrication of rumors and lies, but also tried to implicate the U.N. and its organizations in them.”

“Hizbullah does not usually comment on the statements issued by the March 14 general-secretariat because the content is repetitive, well-known and boring,” the party said in a communiqué.

Religious-linked violence and abuse rose around the world between 2006 and 2009, with Christians and Muslims the most common targets, according to a private U.S. study released Tuesday.

"Over the three-year period studied, incidents of either government or social harassment were reported against Christians in 130 countries (66 percent) and against Muslims in 117 countries (59 percent)," said the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life study.