Iran signed a memorandum of commitment Wednesday for its permanent membership in the powerful regional grouping the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian announced in a Twitter post late Wednesday that he signed the document for his country’s...

Egyptian authorities on Wednesday ordered the release of Al-Jazeera journalists held by Cairo, according to a local official.   "I welcome the decision of the Egyptian Public Prosecution to release the journalists of Al Jazeera who were placed in pre-trial custody," Tarek al-Awady,...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The story about high fuel prices was safe, editors agreed, even under the strict press laws of the United Arab Emirates. Instead, it unleashed a firestorm at Al Roeya newspaper in Dubai. Within days, top editors were interrogated. Within weeks, dozens of...

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Among the boarded-up windows and blast-scarred buildings of Ukraine’s second-largest city, where Russian missiles and rockets strike during the day and the night, fear forms the backdrop of life. As Ukrainian forces advance in their counteroffensive in the Kharkiv...