France welcomed the nomination of Mali’s first government after months-long conflict with Islamists, and vowed to help its former colony improve domestic governance and boost security, the foreign ministry said Monday.

Iran “favourably welcomes” a Russian plan to head off threatened US strikes on Syria by securing a deal to destroy the regime’s chemical weapons, the foreign ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday. Marzieh Afgham told a media conference in Tehran that the proposal should include the destruction of chemical

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday she hoped “action” would follow Russia’s proposal to place Syria’s chemical weapons under international control, and that it was not just a way to buy time.