Mali's main Tuareg separatist group said Wednesday it supported the holding of a nationwide presidential poll in July but ruled out allowing the army in its northern bastion of Kidal for the vote. A delegation from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) held talks in Ouagadougou, the capital of neighbouring Burkina Faso, with the region's lead mediator in the Malian crisis, Djibrill Bassole.

French prosecutors were grilling IMF chief Christine Lagarde in a Paris court on Thursday to decide if she should be charged over a state payout to a disgraced tycoon during her time as finance minister. Lagarde has downplayed the investigation, but the stakes of the probe are huge for both her and the International Monetary Fund. Since March, the IMF has not commented on the affair but the board has reiterated its "confidence" in Lagarde. French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici told AFP that Lagarde "retains the full confidence of French authorities and myself".

WASHINGTON - The economy is recovering, the White House is dealing with multiple controversies, and President Barack Obama appears generally unaffected either way. He's getting no significant uptick in approval from gains in housing, jobs and the stock market. Likewise, he has so far seen no downtick from the recent storms over the terror attack in Benghazi, Libya, the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS and a leak investigation that has swept up the phone records of Associated Press journalists.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday he believes his strong intention to solve the long-standing abduction issue with North Korea will be conveyed to its leader Kim Jong Un following a recent Pyongyang trip by his advisor. "It is not easy to demonstrate our resolve" to Kim, but this time "it is due to be conveyed" as the advisor, Isao Iijima, met with the country's No. 2 leader, Kim Yong Nam, during his four-day trip last week, Abe told a Diet committee session when asked about the contentious move.