The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday it had started changing the make-up of its strike force in Syria as part of a previously announced partial drawdown, Russian news agencies reported. The ministry was cited as saying that the first six SU-24 bombers had already been withdrawn, but...

Iraqi forces drove back Islamic State militants in southeastern Mosul on Thursday, making gains in an area where advances have been particularly tough, the military said in a statement. Rapid response units from Iraq's federal police advanced in the Sumer district, which lies on the eastern...

A UN-backed program to train Syrian entrepreneurs in Turkey has produced a thousand graduates, a Turkish NGO said on Wednesday. The three-month scheme was a pilot program run by Habitat and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Called IMECE -- a Turkish word which...

China's Navy has launched a new electronic reconnaissance ship, state media said Thursday, the latest addition to an expanding fleet and as Beijing's new assertiveness to territorial claims in the South China Sea fuels tensions. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) now operates six electronic...