Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Wednesday he was ready to resume peace efforts with Israel if it stopped settlement building, reacting to a major speech by US Secretary of State John Kerry. "The minute the Israeli government agrees to cease all settlement activities... and agrees to...

The presence of the PKK in the Sinjar region of Iraq is a “major obstacle to reconciliation” and the return of displaced people, the U.S. said Tuesday. “We believe that the PKK which is a U.S. designated terrorist organization should have no role in Sinjar,” State Department...

Two Syrians died Wednesday when a fire erupted in their room south of Beirut, authorities said. Shireen Kh., 25 and her 1-year-old baby Zahraa died in the incident, the Internal Security Forces said on Facebook. Separately, a massive fire erupted inside a shack in an agricultural area in...

The United States Wednesday announced it was adding the student wing of the Pakistan-based militant organization, Lashkar-e-Taiba, to its list of "foreign terrorist organizations." Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), or Army of the Pure, is an anti-Indian militant group with historical ties to Pakistan's...