At least 18 people, most of them Asian and European tourists, were killed when a hot air balloon crashed on Tuesday near the ancient Egyptian town of Luxor following a midair gas explosion, officials said.

France will not negotiate with gunmen claiming to be from Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram who have taken a French family of seven hostage, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday.

Egypt's Islamist president has invited political forces to join him in a dialogue to find ways to ensure the "integrity and transparency" of upcoming parliamentary elections.

Eleven African countries signed a United Nations-drafted peace deal on Sunday to stabilize the troubled Central African country of Congo, where rebels allegedly backed by neighboring countries last year threatened to oust the government.

The brother of Olympic star Oscar Pistorius is facing a culpable homicide charge for a 2008 road death, compounding problems for the family after the double-amputee runner was charged with premeditated murder in the Feb. 14 shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have brought down a foreign surveillance drone during a military exercise, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said on Saturday.

South African Paralympic icon and murder suspect Oscar Pistorius on Saturday said he was thankful for prayers offered to his family and that of his slain girlfriend, a day after he was freed on bail.

Fresh fighting erupted Saturday in northern Mali between ethnic Tuaregs and an unidentified armed group, security sources told AFP, the latest violence in the wake of a French-led campaign that drove radical Islamist fighters from major cities.

Paralympic icon Oscar Pistorius was granted bail by a South African magistrate on Friday, pending a high-profile trial for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

President Mohammed Morsi on Thursday called parliamentary elections that will begin on April 27 and finish in late June, a four-stage vote that the Islamist leader hopes will conclude Egypt's turbulent transition to democracy.