France on Wednesday condemned the "unjustified" expulsion of 20 U.N. refugee agency staff from Sudan's Darfur region, calling on Khartoum to renew their permits immediately.

A foreign ministry spokesman said the move would hamper the ability of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide aid to the two million displaced people in Darfur, 1.2 million of whom were living in camps.

U.S. President Barack Obama has decided to put off a Moscow summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin, the White House said Wednesday, citing a lack of progress in relations and 'disappointment' over the Edward Snowden affair.

Obama talked about the souring relationship with Moscow in a talk show interview late Tuesday, accusing the Russians of slipping back "into a Cold War mentality."

Slovakia said Wednesday it was hopeful eight Slovak paragliders held for months in Iran for alleged spying would be released.

"We are in talks with the Iranian side and these positive signals give us reason for a cautious optimism," foreign ministry press officer Peter Susko told Agence France Presse.

The 2008 war between Georgia and Russia over the separatist region of South Ossetia may have only lasted five days but five years on, Amiran Gugutishvili is still counting the cost.

Snaking through the burnt-out shell of what was once his cousin's house are four-foot (1.2-meter) high coils of razor wire that divide the Russian-backed breakaway territory from Georgian-controlled land.

Monsoon rains triggering floods have killed 84 people across Pakistan in the last week and affected more than 80,000 others, officials said Wednesday, warning of further downpours.

"At least 84 people were killed, 44 were wounded and 81,341 were affected by recent rain and flooding," a senior official in the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) told Agence France Presse.

A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck central Greece on Wednesday, according to the Athens Observatory, with no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The observatory said the quake hit after midday near the central city of Lamia, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of Athens. It was felt in the capital.

North Korea on Wednesday offered South Korea guarantees aimed at breaking deadlocked negotiations on reopening a joint industrial zone, and proposed a fresh round of talks next week.

As well as allowing South Korean firms full access to the Kaesong complex, which closed in April amid soaring military tensions, the North will guarantee the attendance of its workers and the safety of all South Koreans at the complex, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said in a statement.

Indian and Pakistani commanders spoke by hotline Wednesday, a day after Delhi accused Islamabad of involvement in an ambush that killed five Indian troops, a Pakistani military official said.

Pakistan denied any part in the incident, but India lodged an official protest with Islamabad for what was the deadliest loss of life for the Indian army since a 2003 truce agreement.

A massive fire engulfed the arrivals hall at Kenya's main international airport early Wednesday, forcing East Africa's largest airport to close and the rerouting of all inbound flights.

Dark black smoke that billowed skyward was visible across much of Nairobi as emergency teams battled the blaze. Stranded passengers stood on sidewalks outside the airport with their luggage in hand.

Two roadside bombs exploded in the southern Philippines on Wednesday, one of which wounded seven soldiers, police said, in the latest attack to hit the restive region.

The bombs came just two days after a powerful blast killed eight people in the mixed Muslim-Christian city of Cotabato on Monday.