German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian allies will back her if she decides to run for a fourth term next year, a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU) said on Saturday, signalling a possible end of a row over migration among conservatives. "Angela Merkel is our candidate," CSU...

(The Daily Star)- Turkey hit Syrian Kurdish militia targets in northern Syria for the second time in less than 72 hours, the military said Saturday, quoted in state media. Rockets struck 70 People's Protection Units (YPG) targets Friday, the armed forces said in a statement, but did not say...

Libyan naval forces denied charges from a rescue organization that one of their crew had attacked a migrant boat packed with around 150 people, causing some to fall into the sea and at least four to drown, a spokesman said. Some reports said that with the missing the death toll could rise...

An ongoing attack by ISIS in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk has killed at least 46 people, mostly members of the security forces, security and medical sources said Saturday. "We have 46 dead and 133 wounded, most of them members of the security services, as result of the clashes with ISIS," an...

The Shia Houthi militant group and factions supporting ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh has violated a UN-backed truce 897 times, Saudi Media reported Saturday. According to a written statement from Saudi Arabia’s official news agency SPA, Houthis and supporters breached the truce 205...

The Iraqi army launched an operation on Saturday to take Qaraqosh, a Christian town near Mosul, the last major city stronghold of Islamic State in Iraq, the military said. Qaraqosh, about 20 kms (13 miles) southeast of Mosul, was emptied of its population in 2014, when Islamic State swept...

(The Daily Star)- A massive ISIS assault on targets in and around the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk came to an end Saturday after a day and night of heavy clashes, as Iraqi forces launched a new advance southeast of the ISIS-held city of Mosul. Brig. Gen. Khattab Omer of the Kirkuk police...

The dollar rose to its highest since early February against a basket of currencies on Friday as investors increased bets on higher U.S. interest rates, while a measure of world stocks posted its first weekly gain in four weeks despite some soft U.S. corporate results. On Wall Street, energy...

Russia expressed surprise Friday about the mooted deployment of US troops in neighboring Norway. "Taking into account multiple statements made by Norwegian officials about the absence of threat from Russia to Norway, we would like to understand why Norway is so much willing to increase its...

The Daesh terrorist group is using civilian hostages as "human shields" on the frontlines of the ongoing battle for Mosul, according to children who have recently fled the beleaguered city. Children from the village of Adla south of Mosul, who claim to have recently escaped the terrorist...

(The Daily Star)- A suspected extremist gunman captured during a shock attack on Kirkuk Friday said the raid was planned to divert attention from a major offensive on ISIS' Mosul stronghold. An AFP reporter attended the interrogation shortly after his arrest by Kurdish forces of a suspected...

Armed men have attacked an overcrowded dinghy carrying migrants off Libya, leaving at least four dead and up to 25 missing, the German NGO Sea-Watch said Friday. The group said the Italian coastguard had sent a Seawatch rescue ship and a diverted oil tanker to help a dinghy in distress in...

Syria's army and Russia's air force halted their bombardment of rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Friday, a monitoring group said, on the second of four consecutive daytime unilateral ceasefires in the city that have been rejected by insurgents. Heavy clashes took place in Aleppo during the...

European Union leaders condemned Russia on Friday for its bombing of civilians in Syria's besieged city of Aleppo but faced resistance from Italy to impose new sanctions against Moscow over the atrocities. Horrified by Russian air strikes on hospitals and an aid convoy that have killed...

 Donald Trump endured boos at a charity event in New York and a biting attack by President Barack Obama as the Republican nominee's threat not to concede if he loses next month's elections roiled the race for the White House. Trump cast the United States into uncharted political waters...

 (The Daily Star)- A home for asylum seekers was set on fire in a Stockholm suburb early Friday, the second such incident in the Swedish capital in less than a week, police said. Police suspect arson in both cases, which caused no injuries. No arrests have been made. The nine asylum...

Britain sought to shame Russia on Friday for its deadly air strikes on the Syrian city of Aleppo, during a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council called by London to set up a special inquiry into violations. "Russia, you are making the situation worse, not solving it,"...

(BBC)- Islamic State (IS) militants have raided government buildings in and around the Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Iraqi media reported that suicide bombers had attacked police stations and a power station, but that security forces had repelled the assaults. A news agency affiliated to IS...

(middle east eye)- The United Nations hopes to carry out the first medical evacuations from Aleppo on Friday, if the "humanitarian pause" in the Syrian army's Russian-backed assault on the city holds. Russia announced the ceasefire earlier this week as a "goodwill gesture," amid growing...

British American Tobacco said on Friday it had launched a $47-billion bid for control of rival Reynolds American, eying rapid expansion into US and emerging markets and e-cigarettes. The deal, worth the equivalent of 43 billion euros, would create the world's largest listed tobacco company...