Afghanistan's presidential spokesman on Tuesday described the NATO-led military operation in the war-torn nation as "aimless and unwise", in the latest broadside by Kabul against the international coalition.

Fitch on Tuesday affirmed its top 'AAA' credit rating for the European Union, judging financial support by member countries as providing a strong backstop to its limited borrowing.

Washington is working to send a DR Congo warlord holed up in the US embassy in Rwanda to the International Criminal Court and expects he will be given safe passage, a US official said Tuesday.

International donors are making progress toward finding the $1.2 billion needed to help fund the Palestinian Authority this year as it faces up to very difficult economic problems, officials said Tuesday.

The United States said Tuesday it had seen "no evidence" that Syrian rebels have used chemical weapons and warned it would be "totally unacceptable" for the regime in Damascus to use such arms.

Furious MPs took turns in parliament Tuesday to rail against the harsh terms of a bailout aimed at saving Cyprus from bankruptcy, decrying the eurozone "blackmail" as the deal hammered out at the weekend appeared to be unravelling.

The United States and United Nations on Tuesday warned Afghanistan that ensuring a credible presidential election next year would be "critical" to maintaining international support after 2014.

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Israel Tuesday and was expected to attend some meetings a day ahead of President Barack Obama's milestone visit, US officials said.

A group of key countries on Tuesday pressed Morocco and Western Sahara rebels not to block efforts by a United Nations envoy to renew peace talks between the two.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle pledged Tuesday further investment and aid for Tunisia if it stays on track in turning its Arab Spring revolution into a democratic success story.

An Indian court on Tuesday ordered Sunil Bharti Mittal, the billionaire head of India's biggest mobile firm Bharti Airtel, to appear in court on corruption allegations over the 2002 allotment of telecom airwaves.

Police in Indian-administered Kashmir Tuesday said they had arrested four people including a Pakistani member of militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) over an attack that killed five policemen.

Britain sent a Royal Air Force plane to crisis-hit Cyprus on Tuesday carrying one million euros ($1.3 million) in emergency loans for British military personnel, the defence ministry said.

Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said Tuesday the European Parliament has approved setting up a single eurozone bank supervisor which supporters say will help stop troubled banks forcing their governments to seek bailouts.

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Israel on Tuesday, a day ahead of President Barack Obama's milestone visit, police said.

Britain gave the go-ahead on Tuesday for the first of a planned new generation of nuclear power plants.

The United Nations has expressed concern that the Philippines could encourage smoking by hosting one of the world's biggest tobacco trade shows, a health official said Tuesday.

Cyprus turned to Russia on Tuesday as President Nicos Anastasiades battled to garner support from lawmakers for a controversial eurozone bailout deal that the central bank warned was in danger of collapse.

The controversial levy on bank savings in Cyprus will not be repeated in other European countries, Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Tuesday, saying a unique situation had gripped Nicosia.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has called an emergency meeting of party leaders for Wednesday, the presidency said, amid reports a parliamentary vote on a controversial EU bailout deal may again be delayed.