U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous said Tuesday that the world body was exerting all efforts to help the Lebanese army.

“We are well aware of the resource constraints the army faces and we are making every effort at every level to garner international assistance necessary to bolster its capacity,” Ladsous said following talks with Lebanese officials.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko held talks on Tuesday over a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, as two members of a Russian television crew were killed in the ex-Soviet state's separatist east.

Poroshenko assured Putin that an investigation would be launched into the deaths, and vowed to take necessary measures to protect reporters covering the conflict, the Kremlin said in a statement following the talks.

The death toll from two explosions targeting Afghan presidential front-runner Abdullah Abdullah doubled on Saturday, with at least 12 people confirmed dead in an attack that triggered strong international condemnation.

Abdullah survived the assassination attempt on Friday when the blasts, including a suicide bombing, targeted his campaign motorcade in Kabul ahead of next week's hotly contested run-off election.

The United Nations Security Council is mulling a French draft resolution regarding the importance of electing a new head of state in Lebanon and end the presidential deadlock.

According to a report published on Monday in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat, the Security Council is discussing ways to convince the political arch-foes to elect a new president to fortify state institutions and safeguard the country.

A top United Nations political official has reiterated the need for timely presidential elections in Lebanon given that the term of President Michel Suleiman expires on May 25.

Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, told the 15-member U.N. Security Council that four rounds of parliamentary sessions have so far failed to elect a new president.

The U.N. Security Council called Tuesday for an immediate end to violence in northern Mali after more than 30 people were killed in fighting between rebels and the army in a flashpoint town.

Tuareg separatists clashed with Malian soldiers in Kidal during a visit by Prime Minister Moussa Mara, whose government is backed by French soldiers who have helped dislodge rebels and armed Islamic extremists from northern towns. 

Russia would veto a draft United Nations Security Council calling for Syria to be hauled before the International Criminal Court, deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov said Tuesday.

"The draft resolution that is currently submitted to the Security Council for us is unacceptable and we will not support it. If it is put to a vote, we will veto it," Gatilov told the Interfax news agency.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil instructed the permanent Mission of Lebanon to the United Nations in New York to file an urgent complaint to the U.N. Security Council on Israel's “blatant” security breaches against Lebanon's sovereignty and the U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, the state-run National News Agency reported on Saturday.

Israeli forces crossed on May 11 the Blue Line in the al-Labbouneh border area, uprooted trees and lifted cement blocks that belong to the Lebanese army.

The International Support Group for Lebanon has urged Lebanon to hold the presidential elections on time and free of foreign meddling, the U.N. announced on Monday.

Speaking to the press after meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday, U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly said that “the presidential election process is now entering a crucial phase, with less than two weeks remaining until May 25” when President Michel Suleiman's six-year term expires.

The Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to send 12,000 U.N. peacekeepers to Central African Republic, where violence between Christians and Muslims has triggered fears of genocide.

The resolution, submitted by France, will deploy up to 10,000 military personnel and 1,800 police to the former French colony, where sectarian violence has killed thousands in the last year.