Al Qaeda has started reaching out for recruits in Yemen by handing out quiz sheets, with an AK-47 assault rifle as top prize, residents and media said on Thursday. Militants have been touring the southwestern city of Taiz in the build-up to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, putting up...

President Donald Trump blasted ousted FBI chief James Comey as a "showboat" and "grandstander" on Thursday even as the agency's acting leader contradicted the president's account that the FBI had been in turmoil before he fired Comey. In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee,...

Donald Trump's administration was left red-faced Thursday after the Kremlin surprised them by releasing pictures of a closed-door meeting between the US president and Russia's top diplomat. The images -- issued by the Russian state news agency TASS, and subsequently published by much of the...

U.S.-backed Iraqi forces were moving to surround Mosul's Old City on Thursday, a week after launching a fresh push to drive ISIS militants from areas they still hold, according to an Iraqi officer overseeing the operation. Iraqi special forces Lt. Gen. Sami al-Arathi said battle plans had...

 The United Nations said Thursday it was in talks with Iran, Russia and Turkey over who should control proposed safe zones in Syria, a key question after Damascus rejected any international monitors. The U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura and humanitarian pointman Jan Egeland both said...

The United Nations still has "a million questions" about a Syria deal struck last week by Russia, Turkey and Iran, with a reported reduction in the fighting but aid convoys remain almost totally stalled, a U.N. aid official said Thursday. "Now Russia and Turkey and Iran explained to us today...

The Kremlin feels cautious optimism about the prospects for an improvement in U.S.-Russian relations after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, a Kremlin spokesman said Thursday. "The conversation itself is extremely positive," Kremlin...

The EU Thursday approved visa-free travel for Ukrainians, fulfilling a key promise to cement ties with Kiev as it remains embroiled in a deadly conflict with Russian-backed rebels. The EU and Ukraine sealed a so-called Association Agreement after the overthrow of the pro-Moscow government in...

Germany's most populous state goes to the polls Sunday, with Chancellor Angela Merkel's party aiming to extend a winning streak that could seriously damage her rival before national elections. One in five German voters -- 13.1 million -- will cast ballots in North Rhine-Westphalia, a...

 Iraq and Algeria say they support the extension of oil production cuts by OPEC and non-OPEC producers through the end of the year to try to boost prices. In a joint press conference Thursday in Baghdad by the oil ministers of the two countries, Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi...

Marine Le Pen needs to learn the lessons from her French presidential election defeat to Emmanuel Macron and accept that her National Front (FN) party must drop its policy of quitting the euro, one of her top aides said Thursday. The European Union was the second most important issue for...

Turkey has warned online encyclopedia Wikipedia, blocked by Ankara two weeks ago, over what it says is content creating a perception that Turkey is supporting terrorist organisations, Turkish Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan said Thursday. Turkey's telecommunications watchdog said two weeks...

Bangladesh police Thursday raided a suspected Islamist hideout in an operation that left five relatives and a fire officer dead, officials said. Police shot dead the five people, all from the same family, as they emerged from a house in northwest Bangladesh, senior police officer Sumit...

A Syrian migrant has been jailed for life in Austria for executing 20 wounded government soldiers in his home country. The court in the western city of Innsbruck announced its ruling late Wednesday after a jury found the 27-year-old guilty of 20 charges of "murder as a terror offence"....

New South Korean President Moon Jae-In spoke to the leaders of China and Japan Thursday, hours after a telephone call with his US counterpart Donald Trump, officials and reports said, as he began shaping his approach to the nuclear-armed North. In a 40-minute conversation with Chinese leader...

Incoming French president Emmanuel Macron will Thursday reveal a list of hundreds of candidates for his new centrist political party, as he seeks to win a parliamentary majority in next month's general election. The presidential election left France's traditional parties on the sidelines,...

 Libya's coastguard intercepted about 300 migrants packed onto a wooden boat and returned them to Tripoli on Wednesday after warning off a ship that was preparing to pick them up for passage to Europe. Footage filmed by Sea-Watch, a non-governmental organisation, showed a Libyan...

Venezuelan protesters hit the streets on Wednesday armed with "Poopootov cocktails," jars filled with excrement which they vowed to hurl at police as a wave of anti-government demonstrations turned dirty. "We are using those 'poopootov' bombs as we call them because they repress us with...

Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi on Wednesday ordered the army to protect phosphate, gas and oil production facilities after protests aimed at disrupting output broke out in the south of the country. It is the first time troops in Tunisia will be deployed to protect industrial...

Russia's top diplomat met President Donald Trump on Wednesday and praised the U.S. administration as problem solvers, just as the White House drew criticism over the firing of the FBI director who was leading a probe into Moscow's alleged interference in U.S. politics. The talks with Foreign...