A Taliban suicide bomber blew himself after joining a queue to enter a police office in Kabul on February 1, killing 20 people and wounding at least 29 in the worst such attack this year.

President Barack Obama will ask Congress for US$755 million in his budget next week to jumpstart cancer research in a "moonshot" push to find cancer cures and treatments, the White House said on February 1.

For scores of women in the epicenter of the Zika outbreak in Brazil, the joy of pregnancy has given way to fear.

The United Nations appealed on January 31 for US$861 million to help Iraq meet a big funding gap in its 2016 emergency response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the war against Islamic State.

Syria's main opposition group is considering a proposal by UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura that could pave the way to the delegation pressing ahead with talks after holding their first meeting with him on January 31, a Western diplomatic source said.

Israel would consider a French invitation to peace talks with the Palestinians, but believes France has made a mistake by saying it will recognize a Palestinian state if the talks fail, an Israeli government official said on January 30.

Iraq needs US$1.56 billion this year to finance its response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the war against Islamic State, which has displaced more than 3.3 million people since 2014, according to a government report released on January 31.

Almost 40 people drowned and 75 were rescued after a boat carrying migrants to Greece sank off Turkey's western coast on January 30, according to local officials and the Turkish Dogan news agency.

A delegation from Syria's main opposition group arrived in Geneva on January 30 to join UN-mediated peace talks, demanding President Bashar al-Assad's government be made to comply with a UN resolution on humanitarian aid and human rights.

An EgyptAir mechanic whose cousin joined Islamic State in Syria is suspected of planting a bomb on a Russian passenger plane that was blown out of Egypt's skies in late October, according to sources familiar with the matter.