A government official says Afghan security forces have driven Taliban fighters from Taywara District in western Ghor province. Abdul Hai Khateby, provincial governor spokesman, says fighting raged for two days before Afghan soldiers drove them from the district center on Friday. Khateby...

Britain pressed Syria and its ally Russia on Thursday to allow access to humanitarian aid in the war-torn country as a senior U.N. official told the Security Council that aid convoys had not been able to reach 540,000 people in besieged areas during July. "We're not asking for humanitarian...

The captain and crew of a ship chartered by an anti-immigrant group was ordered to leave Cyprus after being detained on suspicion of forging the documents of 20 Sri Lankan nationals on board, a Turkish Cypriot aid group said Thursday. The Defend Europe-chartered ship's captain and his crew...

 Venezuela's government on Thursday issued a ban on protests against a controversial weekend election that has already been the focus of deadly street demonstrations. From Friday, those taking part in rallies, demonstrations, marches or similar events that "could disturb or affect" the...

A senior U.N. humanitarian official says over 200,000 people in Syria have fled their homes in the area around Deash's (ISIS) de facto capital of Raqqa since the start of April. The figure includes more than 30,000 people who were displaced this month alone, as U.S.-backed Syrian fighters...

 Iran successfully launched its most advanced satellite-carrying rocket into space on Thursday, the country's state media reported, in what is likely the most significant step yet for the launch vehicle. A confirmed launch of the "Simorgh" rocket would also mark another step forward for...

Jordan's King Abdullah called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to put on trial an Israeli security guard who shot dead two Jordanians and warned the way the incident is handled would directly affect ties between the two countries. In a statement from the royal court, the Jordanian...

Human Rights Watch said that activists in western Libya were physically attacked and threatened by armed groups, some affiliated with U.N.-backed government based in the country's capital, Tripoli. The statement by the New York-based watchdog on Thursday says that Libyan "authorities seem...

 An Iraqi army division trained by American forces summarily executed prisoners in west Mosul, Human Rights Watch said Thursday, calling for U.S. assistance in suspending the unit. The latest report of executions comes after the release of videos allegedly shot in the Mosul area that...

President Vladimir Putin has signed a law ratifying a deal with the Syrian government allowing Russia to keep its air base in Syria for almost half a century, official documents show. The original deal, signed in Damascus in January, sets out the terms under which Russia can use its Hmeymim...

France will set up processing centres this summer in Libya for asylum seekers trying to reach Europe across the Mediterranean, President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday. "The idea is to create hotspots to avoid people taking crazy risks when they are not all eligible for asylum. We'll go...

The United States' 2-1 win over Jamaica in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final on Wednesday took their unbeaten streak to 14 games but coach Bruce Arena says they must not lose sight of the big picture -- qualifying for next year's World Cup finals. The United States are unbeaten since Arena...

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has met with representatives of 19 German companies operating in Turkey and reassured them that no German firm is under investigation. This week, Turkey withdrew a request via Interpol for information on a number of German companies with ties to Turkish...

Freedom of movement of workers between Britain and the European Union will end when Britain withdraws from the bloc, immigration minister Brandon Lewis said Thursday. "Free movement of labour ends when we leave the European Union in spring 2019," Lewis told BBC radio. Lewis also said a...

The U.S. Pacific Fleet commander said Thursday he would launch a nuclear strike against China next week if President Donald Trump ordered it, and warned against the military ever shifting its allegiance from its commander in chief. Adm. Scott Swift was responding to a hypothetical question...

 Israel overnight removed all security infrastructure it had put in place this month at Muslim entrances to the Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, stepping up its efforts to diffuse political and religious tension. The government had already dismantled metal detectors it...

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- A ceasefire took effect on Thursday in a mountainous area of the Lebanese-Syrian border where Lebanon's Hezbollah says it is on the verge of defeating Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militants in their last foothold at the frontier. The ceasefire began at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT),...

( The New Arab )- Noor was studying architectural engineering at the University of Mosul when, on her daily commute from her home in Qaraqosh, a man stopped all the buses on the road, flailing his arms and screaming in distress.  It was May 2, 2010, and the subsequent explosion tore...

The Trump administration imposed sanctions on 13 senior Venezuelan officials as the country's opposition launched a two-day strike on Wednesday, heaping pressure on unpopular President Nicolas Maduro to scrap plans for a controversial new congress. Venezuela's long-time ideological foe the...

The United States, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France and other nations are demanding the U.N. Security Council takes action to ensure aid convoys reach millions of needy Syrians, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Wednesday. In a rebuke to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies...