Over recent years, Sudan's military and a separate armed force accumulated power, each suspicious of the other, even as they worked together against the country's pro-democracy movement. Officers inside both forces say it was a long-building recipe for disaster.

Their tenuous alliance ended in mid-April, when they turned their guns on each other, sparking a conflict that threatens to engulf African's third largest country.

In the year in which the Turkish republic marks its centenary, the country is being closely watched to see if a united opposition can succeed in unseating an increasingly authoritarian leader in the NATO-member country.

Turkey's presidential and parliamentary elections, taking place on Sunday, could stretch President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule into a third decade — or they could set the country on a new course.

The Arab League's decision to re-admit Syria after shunning it for 12 years was a significant symbolic victory for Damascus, part of a larger regional realignment and an indication of the United States' waning role, analysts say.

But it may not immediately bring the reconstruction dollars that Syrian President Bashar Assad is hoping for. Nor is it likely to bring the changes Syria's neighbors want, such as an agreement on refugee returns and moves to reduce drug trafficking.

A truce announced Wednesday by Gaza militants followed a deadly exchange of cross-border fire, sparked by the death in Israel of a Palestinian hunger striker.

AFP looks back at worsening violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since last year:

Great Britain's royal family turns the page on a new chapter Saturday with the coronation of King Charles III.

The pomp, pageantry and symbolism dates back more than 1,000 years, but the crowning of this king will feature new twists on the tradition and changes from the coronation of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, 70 years ago.

The crown has been resized. The troops are prepared for the biggest military procession in 70 years. The Gold State Coach is ready to roll.

Now it's time for the show.

From her modest home in the blockaded Gaza Strip, Amina al-Dabai remembers the very different world in which she grew up more than seven decades ago.

Born in 1934, Dabai was still only a child when Israel was created on May 14, 1948.

No president wants to give up the power and prestige that comes with the office after only one term, and Joe Biden is no exception. He's pushing forward even though polls show a majority of Americans don't want to see him run again.

We went back to look at when modern presidents announced their decisions to seek a second term, what their Gallup approval ratings were at the time and how things turned out for them.

The main challenger trying to unseat Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in this month's presidential election cuts a starkly different figure than the incumbent who has ruled the country for two decades.

Where Erdogan is a mesmerizing orator, the unassuming Kemal Kilicdaroglu is soft spoken. Erdogan is also a master campaigner who uses state resources and events to reach supporters while Kilicdaroglu talks to voters in videos recorded in his kitchen. As the polarizing Erdogan has grown increasingly authoritarian, Kilicdaroglu has built a reputation as a bridge builder and vows to restore democracy.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has said that Beijing will send an envoy to Ukraine to discuss a possible "political settlement" to Russia's war with the country.

Beijing has previously avoided involvement in conflicts between other countries but appears to be trying to assert itself as a global diplomatic force after arranging talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran in March that led them to restore diplomatic relations after a seven-year break.