The English Premier League has sold its television rights in China to streaming service PPTV for $700 million (565 million pounds), a source familiar with the matter said, several times the size of past deals as it cashes in on a growing enthusiasm for football. A spokesman for PPTV, part of...

On the eve of Donald Trump's election victory, members of a Western-backed Syrian rebel group met U.S. officials to ask about the outlook for arms shipments they have received to fight President Bashar al-Assad. They were told the program would continue until the end of the year, but...

Twenty-six people were hurt Friday, some critically, after a man set fire to a busy bank in Australia with one witness saying he heard a "big blast" and children screaming. Police said the man entered the Commonwealth Bank branch in the Melbourne suburb of Springvale with flammable liquid....

(Daily Mail)- The UN Security Council on Thursday unanimously decided to extend for another year the mandate of a panel tasked with investigating chemical attacks in Syria and identifying those responsible. Backed by Russia, the council adopted a US-drafted resolution to prolong the joint...

Iraqi officers say troops are advancing cautiously into eastern districts of Mosul where they face stiff resistance from ISIS militants. Airstrikes, automatic fire and artillery were heard from dawn and one soldier was reported killed in clashes. Civilians, some of them wounded, could be...

Israel looks forward to working with all members of President-elect Donald Trump's administration, including senior White House adviser Steve Bannon, Israel's ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer said on Thursday on leaving the Trump Tower in New York. Trump's appointment of Bannon has...

Turkey reopened an important border gate with Syria on Thursday, two days after an outbreak of fighting across the frontier. The Oncupinar crossing point in the southeastern province of Kilis is open again, the local provincial governor told Anadolu Agency. On Nov. 14 Turkey temporarily...

 New visa fees will not deter investment in Saudi Arabia, which is easing procedures for foreign business, the commerce minister said Thursday, countering concerns by foreign critics. Majed al-Qasabi "confirms the charges for entry visas will not affect the flow of foreign investments...

(The Guardian)- Barack Obama has warned the US president-elect, Donald Trump, against taking a purely “realpolitik approach” to relations with Russia and encouraged his successor to continue standing up for American values. “I’ve sought a constructive relationship with Russia but what I have...

(The Daily Star)- A suicide bomber detonated a car laden with explosives at a wedding in a Sunni town west of Baghdad Thursday, killing 12 and wounding 35, police sources said. The attack appeared to have targeted Sunni provincial officials opposed to ISIS who were attending the wedding in...

(Foreign Policy)- Late last week, President-elect Donald Trump explained for the first time since his election victory his position on the crisis in Syria. In his remarks, he laid out his determination to ramp up the fight against the Islamic State and to cease support to those fighting...

The dominant armed force in the east Libyan city of Benghazi said on Thursday it had taken control of one the last holdouts of Islamist-led militias, amid clashes in which at least 13 troops were killed, according to medical officials. The self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), whose...

Russia has launched its first attacks on militant targets in Syria involving warplanes from both Russian and Syrian air bases as well as from a Russian aircraft carrier, the defense ministry said Thursday quoted by Russian news agencies. Read More: Regime forces launch...

A hundred migrants were feared drowned Thursday after yet another migrant shipwreck off the Libyan coast, raising the number of those missing feared drowned this week to 340. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said around 100 people were believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean Wednesday,...

Iraq's premier and its Kurdish regional chief were publicly at odds Thursday over territorial control after the recapture of Mosul, even with the battle for the city far from over. The war against ISIS to recapture Mosul, the extremists' last main stronghold in Iraq, has seen the autonomous...

The energy minister for top OPEC exporter Saudi Arabia said Thursday he was optimistic about OPEC's deal to limit oil output and mentioned the lower end of a previously agreed production target, helping spur a rally in the price of crude. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting...

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pardoned 82 prisoners, mostly university students jailed for protesting, state news agency MENA said on Thursday. Sisi had promised in October to amend a protest law that human rights groups say has severely restricts protest rights and hinted at...

A controversial Israeli bill to limit the volume of calls to prayer at mosques may be revived after it appeared to have been buried thanks to opposition from ultra-Orthodox Jews, reports said Thursday. Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, from the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, may...

(The Daily Star)- The General Security Thursday arrested a Lebanese man accused of links to militant groups. In a statement, the General Security identified the militant suspect by the initials Aa. M., saying he confessed to working with others in providing arms to an unnamed militant group....

Can Germany, the country that once unleashed Nazism, lead the free world? The idea that the former home of militarism and nationalism could become a beacon for human rights and peaceful international cooperation within one lifetime may seem far-fetched. But with outsider Donald Trump's...