U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he was "deeply disappointed and concerned" about the impact of Sunday's vote in Crimea to break away from Ukraine.

"The secretary general once again urges all parties to refrain from violence and to commit themselves to de-escalation and inclusive national dialogue in the pursuit of a political and diplomatic solution," his spokesman said.

An estimated 10,000 Syrian children in Lebanon are likely to be suffering from malnutrition and has increased by 5.9 percent in 2013, according to a recent UNICEF-led survey as the U.N. agency said nearly 2,000 were at risk of dying if they weren't immediately treated.

Trapped in her northern Syrian village by fighting, Mervat watched her newborn baby progressively shrink. Her daughter's dark eyes seemed to grow bigger as her face grew more skeletal. Finally, Mervat escaped to neighboring Lebanon, and a nurse told her the girl was starving.

Embattled Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan struck a defiant tone Saturday, implicitly accusing his rivals of fomenting violence two weeks ahead of key local elections.

"We do not want anyone to equip our youngsters with Molotov cocktails, stones and knives and send them to the streets," he said following mass protests this week in which two people died.

Turkish prosecutors have completed a first batch of indictments in a graft scandal that has rocked the 11-year rule of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, overcoming intense pressure from his conservative government, local media reported Friday.

Mustafa Demir, the mayor of Istanbul's Fatih district, a stronghold of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), is among 21 people in the indictment, the reports said, without naming the others.

Turkey warned on Friday that it would retaliate "in kind" if a historic memorial that it controls inside war-torn Syria comes under attack.

"Any kind of attack, be it from the regime or radical groups ... will face retaliation in kind and Turkey will take any measures to defend its homeland without any hesitation," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday accused his opponents of trying to stir up chaos ahead of key local elections later this month, a day after clashes in which two people died.

Erdogan said demonstrators had destroyed the offices of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Istanbul during mass protests over the killing of a teenage boy by riot police.

A would-be immigrant died and three others were missing on Thursday after their boat sank near Turkey in an attempted crossing of the Aegean Sea, the Greek coastguard said.

The accident occurred in Turkish waters near the Greek island of Rhodes.

Riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters in Ankara and Istanbul on Wednesday as tens of thousands took to the streets to mourn a teenage boy who died from injuries suffered in last year's anti-government protests.

In the Turkish capital, police clashed with demonstrators as they tried to stop traffic, making a number of arrests and leaving several injured.

The exiled Turkish cleric at the heart of a bitter feud with embattled Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a new constitution and accused the government of holding the country to ransom.

Fethullah Gulen said in a comment piece published in the Financial Times on Tuesday that a new democratic constitution, drafted by civilians, was needed to restore trust at home and abroad.

Turkish riot police fired tear gas Tuesday at protesters massed outside a hospital after the death of a teenage boy wounded during anti-government protests last year and left comatose.

About 1,000 people staged a rally outside an Istanbul hospital in solidarity with 15-year-old Berkin Elvan, who was walking to buy bread when he was struck in the head by a tear gas canister during the unrest in the city in June.