Five years after being ousted after a mass uprising, Egypt's ex-president Hosni Mubarak is in a military hospital suite and his clan has been nearly rehabilitated under an even more repressive regime.

Mubarak stepped down on February 11, 2011 after 18 days of street protests against the police abuses and corruption that marred the Arab world's largest country during 30 years of Mubarak rule.

Official moves towards the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in South Korea in the wake of Pyongyang's latest rocket launch will increase pressure on Beijing to bring its errant neighbor to heel, analysts say.

But they also highlight the inherent dangers of disunity in dealing with North Korea's growing military threat, and could presage an arms build up if China feels threatened by the roll-out.

North Korea on Sunday launched a long-range rocket seen by much of the outside world as a covert test of ballistic missile technology for a future weapons system capable of striking the US mainland.

These are key dates in the reclusive nation's missile program:

One hundred days after Justin Trudeau's Liberal government was sworn in, the still-popular Canadian prime minister faces mounting criticism, against the backdrop of a floundering economy and terror fears.

The 44-year-old Trudeau -- a former schoolteacher and the son of a popular prime minister -- immediately saw his international profile rise upon taking office on November 4, and he still enjoys strong support at home.

Syria's mainstream rebels risk total collapse after a Russian-backed regime advance that severed their main supply line to Aleppo city and threatens to leave them completely besieged there.

Analysts said rebels and their international backers were left with few options to prevent fresh government advances, which came as fresh peace talks backed by the United Nations fell apart.

First time Democratic voters are flocking en masse to Bernie Sanders, a 74-year-old senator with seven grandchildren, giving Hillary Clinton a youth deficit problem as the White House race tightens.

The pioneering former first lady and secretary of state mounting a second attempt to become America's first female president has been forced to acknowledge she needs to connect better with younger voters.

A United Nations report on Friday calling for Julian Assange's "detention" to be brought to an end is the latest twist in a long-running case pitting hi-tech activists against mighty governments.

At the heart of it is a pale, lanky Australian ex-hacker who has been holed up for three and a half years in a cramped office at Ecuador's embassy in London to avoid being arrested by British police.

Public beheadings and roving jihadist gangs are terrifying residents in the Islamic State group's Libyan stronghold of Sirte, in an ominous sign of the movement's growing international influence.

Witnesses tell of amputations and executions in squares in Moammar Gadhafi's hometown on the Mediterranean coast, where women can no longer go out without a male guardian.

In nearly five years of conflict in Syria, sieges have become a key weapon of war employed primarily by the regime, but also rebel forces and the Islamic State group.

Here are some key questions and answers about sieges in Syria:

Masked men chased migrants in Stockholm this weekend in a rare act of overt violence against refugees, but one that reflects smouldering tensions in Sweden as it grapples with the consequences of a record influx of migrants.

The attack came just days after a teenaged asylum-seeker killed a young Lebanese-Swede working at an asylum residence.