Iran halted flights to and from Kurdish regions in northern Iraq on Sunday in retaliation to a plan by the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to hold a referendum on independence. It also started wargames at the Kurdish border. The air embargo is the first concrete...

The leaders of New Zealand’s main parties prepared on Sunday to start talks with Winston Peters, the leader of a nationalist party who emerged as kingmaker after an inconclusive general election, but Peters indicated he was in no rush to pick a side. Prime Minister Bill English’s...

Germans began voting in a national election on Sunday that is likely to see Chancellor Angela Merkel win a historic fourth term and a far-right party enter parliament for the first time in more than half a century. Merkel’s conservative bloc is on track to remain the largest group in...

Fairouz's  Facebook page  released a link to the album for download on Friday with an image of the album cover. The sparse cover features a painting showing a profile of the singer's iconic face on a black background. It follows a teaser campaign on social media over the...

North Korea said on Saturday targeting the U.S. mainland with its rockets was inevitable after “Mr. Evil President” Donald Trump called Pyongyang’s leader “rocket man”, further escalating rhetoric over the North’s nuclear weapons and missile programs. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri...

Congolese President Joseph Kabila told the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations on Saturday that he would ensure those responsible for killing two U.N. investigators earlier this year would be punished. Michael Sharp, an American who was coordinator of an independent...

 An magnitude 6.2 earthquake shook southern Mexico on Saturday and was felt in the capital, where seismic alarms sounded, residents ran into the streets and rescuers briefly stopped combing the rubble left by a bigger tremor earlier this week. The United States Geological Survey...

 China’s earthquake administration said on Saturday it had detected a magnitude 3.4 earthquake in North Korea that was a “suspected explosion”, raising fears the isolated state had conducted another nuclear bomb test. The administration said in a statement on its website that the...

Nuclear proliferation watchdog CTBTO is examining unusual seismic activity in North Korea, it said on Saturday. “Analysts looking at unusual #seismic activity of a much smaller magnitude in the #DPRK,” CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo said in a Twitter post, adding more details...

Iran has successfully tested a new ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) which it displayed at a military parade on Friday, state media reported on Saturday. The test-firing of the Khorramshahr missile, which Iran said could carry several warheads, is likely to raise...

Russia’s foreign minister said on Friday the leaders of North Korea and the United States should tone down their bellicose rhetoric and warned that a collapse of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers would only embolden Pyongyang. “The exchange of threats is quite bad,...

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), set to enter parliament for the first time at weekend elections, said on Friday it would revive debate there after four years of “grand coalition” rule by the two major parties. Support for the AfD, which has won voters with its...

Frequent breakdowns of advanced uranium enrichment devices have inadvertently helped Iran comply with restrictions in the international agreement curbing its nuclear program, according to a new report by a Washington-based think tank. Iranian compliance also is due to tougher policing...

Asian stocks fell and the Japanese yen and Swiss franc gained on Friday after North Korea said it might test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean and escalated a war of words with U.S. President Donald Trump. Spreadbetters expected European stocks to start lower amid a chill in risk...

Deadly Hurricane Maria caused flooding in the Dominican Republic as it brushed past the country on Thursday after destroying buildings and knocking out power across the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and St. Croix. The second major hurricane to rage through the Caribbean this month,...

 Rescuers labored against the odds on Thursday to extract survivors including school children and five Taiwanese factory workers trapped beneath collapsed buildings in central Mexico following the country’s deadliest earthquake in 32 years. More than 50 survivors have been plucked...

Istanbul’s main Ataturk airport was reopened to traffic on Thursday after a private jet crashed on the runway, causing authorities to suspend flights, the head of Turkish Airlines said on Twitter. The jet, registered as TC-KON, crashed after reporting a malfunction as it was taking off,...

 Wells Fargo (WFC.N) Chief Executive Tim Sloan is due to testify before Congress on Oct. 3 as the bank deals with fallout from a sales scandal a year ago that continues to spark new revelations. Sloan will appear before the Senate Banking Committee, which writes rules for his...

Oil prices slipped on Thursday, giving up some recent gains before a meeting of oil producers that could extend production limits aimed at clearing a glut in supplies that has depressed the market for more than three years. Ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting...

 Volvo Cars showed off its first compact SUV on Thursday with the launch of its new XC40 model, the latest in a sweeping overhaul of the carmaker’s line-up under Chinese ownership. Volvo will seek to emulate the success of its XC90 and best-selling XC60 SUVs, which have put it on...