Pakistan on Wednesday said blistering criticism by US President Donald Trump was "disappointing" and denied accusations that it supported terrorist groups. "No country in the world has suffered more than Pakistan from the scourge of terrorism, often perpetrated from outside our borders. It...

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Tuesday denied claims by Turkey that the two countries were planning joint military operations against Kurdish rebels in Iraq. "We have not planned any operations outside Iran's borders," said a statement from the Guards' regional ground forces headquarters...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday what he calls Iran's "aggression" and attempts to expand its military presence in neighboring Syria. Iran is Israel's arch-rival, and Netanyahu along with Israeli security officials...

A top Palestinian official says the Palestinian people are hoping for some clear answers from the U.S. when White House envoy Jared Kushner returns to the region this week. Ahmad Majdalani, a top aide to President Mahmoud Abbas, said the they asked Kushner for the U.S. position on two key...

Barcelona are seeking at least 8.5 million euros ($10 million) from Neymar for breach of contract, the club said on Tuesday as the bitter fallout rumbles on from his world record 222-million-euro move to Paris Saint-Germain. "In this lawsuit, the club demands the amount already paid as...

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Tuesday vowed Turkey would thwart any attempt by a Kurdish militia it deems "terrorists" to carve out a Kurdish state in northern Syria. Ankara views the Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdish Democratic Party (PYD) as a terror group. But the...

 A meeting between Syrian opposition groups in Riyadh has ended in stalemate, a member said Tuesday, with the fate of President Bashar al-Assad still an obstacle in forming a unified front for peace talks. The Saudi-backed opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) began discussions...

Aid groups have opened an employment center in a sprawling refugee camp in Jordan to provide more work permits for Syrians who have fled civil war. Less than 3 percent of the 80,000 Syrians living in the Zaatari Refugee Camp are allowed to work in Jordan, which is struggling to cope with...

Germany's foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel said Berlin and the rest of Europe should back the "democratically minded" majority of Turks who did not support President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a dramatic hardening of Germany's posture towards Ankara. His remarks, at a campaign event for his...

NATO allies on Tuesday welcomed President Donald Trump's decision to commit more forces to Afghanistan, as part of a new U.S. strategy he said would require more troops and funding from America's partners. Having run for the White House last year on a pledge to withdraw swiftly from...

A delegation representing Iraq's ruling Shi'ite coalition may meet Kurdish politicians again next week to try to convince them to delay or cancel a plan to hold an independence referendum, a negotiator said. A first round of talks, held last week in Baghdad, brought the two sides closer and...

Iraqi forces backed by the U.S.-led coalition announced Tuesday they have retaken two districts of Tal Afar from Daesh (ISIS), the extremists' last bastion in the country's north. Army, police and units of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition were now in "full control" of Al-Kifah and...

Iran's new communications minister said Tuesday that negotiations were underway with Twitter to unblock the service, which has been banned for years despite being used even by the country's supreme leader. The micro-blogging platform was barred at the time of mass anti-regime protests in...

China defended its ally Pakistan on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States could no longer be silent about Pakistan's "safe havens" for militants and warned it had much to lose by continuing to "harbor terrorists". Trump on Monday committed the United States to an...

 Iranian state television is quoting the country's atomic chief as saying the Islamic Republic would need only five days to ramp up its uranium enrichment to 20 percent - a level at which the material could start to be used for a nuclear weapon. State TV's website on Tuesday quoted Ali...

Expelled from their main stronghold in northern Iraq, Daesh (ISIS) militants are now trapped in a military vise that will squeeze them on both sides of the Syria-Iraq border, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said. Mattis arrived in the Iraqi capital on an unannounced visit Tuesday just...

Iraq must ensure that women and girls subjected to sexual violence at the hands of Daesh (ISIS) militants have access to justice and reparations, U.N. investigators said on Tuesday. Thousands of people, predominantly from Iraq’s ethnic and religious minorities, have been subjected to sexual...

Millions of Americans looked skyward in awe through protective glasses, telescopes and cameras on Monday as the first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in a century marched from the U.S. Pacific Northwest to the Atlantic seaboard. After weeks of anticipation, onlookers from Oregon to South...

A rocket landed in the heavily fortified diplomatic area of the Afghan capital Kabul late Monday, police said. The attack came hours before US President Donald Trump is due to announce his long-awaited strategy for Afghanistan. A siren used by the US embassy to warn of incoming rockets...

Jordan's King Abdullah II and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Monday for new "serious and effective" peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the royal palace said. Meeting in Amman, they urged "the resumption of serious and effective negotiations between the...