Asian stocks bounced off lows on Monday and the Australian dollar pared early losses as weak China factory activity reinforced views that Beijing will roll out fresh support measures soon for the world's second-largest economy. Spreadbetters expected the equity markets to open...

Floyd Mayweather Jr cemented his place among the pantheon of boxing greats by improving to 48-0 with a unanimous decision over Manny Pacquiao on Saturday in a fight that lived up to its immense hype and price tag. Mayweather weathered an early assault from the Filipino southpaw...

The Islamic State group Sunday claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack outside a popular Baghdad restaurant that killed 15 people, including four policemen and a media figure. Saturday's attack, one of the deadliest in the Iraqi capital this year, took place in Karrada, a district packed...

Security forces on Sunday arrested a Lebanese man accused of being a cleric and recruiting agent for the extremist Islamic State jihadist group, a security source told AFP. "Ibrahim al-Barakat was arrested early on Sunday and is accused of being a religious jurist for Daesh in the northern...

Tunisia said Sunday security measures have already been taken to protect Jewish pilgrims at a religious festival next week on the island of Djerba, after Israel warned of "concrete threats". Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel had learned of "concrete...

Ammar al-Shahbander, long-standing Chief of Mission in Iraq for the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR), was killed last night, May 2, in a car bomb attack in the busy commercial area of Karrada in Baghdad. It is believed that up to 17 people were killed in twin bomb...

(Reuters) - Local fighters battling the rebel Houthi militia in Yemen's port of Aden stormed areas around the airport on Sunday in an operation supervised by the Saudi-led coalition, which also provided air support, the group's spokesman said. "Special forces from the...

Iran's deputy foreign minister said Tehran will not let regional powers jeopardize its security interests in Yemen, Tasnim news agency reported, in the strongest acknowledgement yet of Iranian involvement in the Arabian peninsula. Iran has denied accusations from Western and...

(Reuters) - Egyptian authorities are using the courts to stifle journalism, Amnesty International said on Sunday in a report that listed 18 reporters and media workers jailed and dozens more facing criminal investigations. The New York-based rights group said several...

London (AFP) - Prince William's wife Kate gave birth to a baby girl on Saturday, sparking celebrations in Britain for the royal family's new fourth in line to the throne. The beaming couple left the hospital carrying the newborn princess in front of hundreds of screaming well-wishers and amid...

 Qatar said on Saturday it was hosting a dialogue this weekend between Afghan officials and representatives of the Taliban insurgents on ways to end the country's long war. Taliban's official spokesman said the insurgents were sending an eight-member delegation to a conference in Doha...

(Reuters) - A French patrol ship rescued 217 migrants from three small boats that had run into trouble off the coast of Libya on Saturday, the maritime police said in a statement. The Commandant Birot helped several dozen people in distress and intercepted two suspected people smugglers,...

Kuwait City (AFP) - Kuwait on Friday arrested a former opposition lawmaker for alleging Iran was pressuring the oil-rich emirate to change the crown prince, the government and relatives said. The interior ministry said Waleed al-Tabtabai had been "arrested on the orders of the...

(Reuters) - A demonstration by Israeli Jews of Ethiopian origin against police brutality turned violent on Thursday, with police using water canon to keep angry crowds away from the prime minister's residence. At least 13 people were injured and two police officers and five protesters...

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Supreme Economic Council has approved a restructuring of state oil company Saudi Aramco [SDABO.UL] that includes separating it from the oil ministry, Al Arabiya television channel reported on Friday, citing sources. There are no indications that the move will...

(Reuters) - Britain has informed a United Nations sanctions panel of an active Iranian nuclear procurement network linked to two blacklisted firms, according to a confidential report by the panel seen by Reuters. The existence of such a network could add to Western concerns over whether...

Reuters) - Iraq is poised to deploy Shi'ite paramilitaries backed by Iran to Sunni tribal areas west of Baghdad, a move supporters say is needed to defeat Islamic State militants but opponents say could inflame more sectarian violence. Shi'ite paramilitaries have already played a...

n">(Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 6.9 struck off Papua New Guinea on Thursday, 154 km south of Rabaul, at a depth of 85 km (53 miles), the United States Geological Survey reported. There were no immediate reports of damages or casualties. Rabaul, a town on East New...

JABER CROSSING, Jordan (AP) — Jordan's overland trade has largely been paralyzed by recent border attacks from insurgents in neighboring Syria and Iraq — a spillover of regional turmoil threatening a close Western ally that has thus far succeeded in fending off Islamic militants....

(Reuters) - France will open a center late this year to help reintegrate young French citizens who return from conflict zones such as Syria but are not subject to prosecution, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Wednesday. France is a top Western source country for jihadi...