Civilian casualties in Afghanistan hit a record high this year, a U.N. report said, highlighting worsening violence as U.S.-led troops leave after more than a decade of fighting the Taliban.

Casualties jumped 19 percent by the end of November compared to the year before, with 3,188 civilians killed and 6,429 injured, the United Nation's Mission's for Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a report.

A Kurdish official and an activist group say Kurdish fighters have advanced in the contested northern Syrian town of Kobani after heavy clashes with the Islamic State group.

Nawaf Khalil, a spokesman for the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, says Kurdish fighters advanced Saturday in six neighborhoods and have besieged the IS-held Cultural Center east of town.

The FBI has mishandled large amounts of evidence in its offices across the United States, The New York Times reported Friday after reviewing an internal report from the investigative force.

The FBI has failed to keep close track of the weapons, valuables, money and drugs it keeps as part of its criminal cases, the report said, adding that almost half of the evidence reviewed by an internal investigation had errors.

The latest round of Ukraine-related sanctions by the United States and Canada hamper efforts to resolve the conflict, Russia's foreign ministry said Saturday.

"The sanctions are directed to disrupt the political process," the ministry said in a statement following the announcement of the latest measures on Friday. 

Rights groups Saturday condemned Pakistan's decision to hang two convicted militants in its first executions for six years, as leaders vowed decisive action in the wake of a Taliban school massacre that left 149 people dead.

The bloody rampage in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Tuesday sparked international outrage and Pakistan described it as its own "mini 9/11" and a game changer in its fight against terror.

An Indian diplomat at the center of a bitter row with the United States has been stripped of her duties over unauthorized statements to media, a government source and reports said Saturday.

Devyani Khobragade was arrested and strip-searched in New York last December while serving as India's deputy consul-general on charges of mistreating her servant.

The United States issued a worldwide travel alert Friday, warning Americans to be vigilant during the holiday period, especially in the wake of a deadly siege in Australia.

Sydney this week saw a dramatic siege in a cafe that began Monday and left two hostages and a gunman dead.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday that Cuba would change as a result of the communist-ruled island's rapprochement with Washington, but the improvements will not happen "overnight."

Shaggy-haired, bearded and attentive, accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev made his first public appearance in 17 months Thursday, at a brief court hearing before his trial next month.

The French military mission in Afghanistan will officially end on December 31 when the last of its forces leave the country, the defense ministry said Friday. 

The departure of around 150 soldiers from Kabul will put an end to a 13-year mission as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).