(Reuters) - Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah reached a deal over political reconciliation on Thursday after Hamas agreed to hand over administrative control of the Gaza enclave the group has controlled for more than a decade. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh announced the...

 Kurdish peshmerga forces on Thursday blocked roads from Iraqi Kurdistan to the country's second city Mosul in response to Iraqi troop movements, a senior Kurdish military official told AFP. "The two main roads connecting Irbil and Dohuk to Mosul were cut off on Thursday with sand...

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices slipped on Thursday as U.S. fuel inventories rose and despite efforts by OPEC to cut production. Brent crude oil was down 20 cents at $56.74 a barrel by 0730 GMT. U.S. light crude was 25 cents lower at $51.05. Both benchmarks have risen more than 20 percent...

LONDON (Reuters) - Global supply and demand for crude oil will be largely balanced next year, as growth in consumption helps erode a three-year-old overhang of unused fuel and should mostly offset a steep rise in output, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday. In its monthly...