BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two Palestinians were shot dead and seven people wounded in a gunfight in southern Beirut on Monday on the edge of the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila, security sources said. It was not immediately clear what caused the confrontation in the Lebanese...

Germany were given a major scare before beating Algeria 2-1 on Monday to book a FIFA World Cup quarter-final meeting with France. After a pulsating 90 minutes in Porto Alegre had ended goalless, Chelsea forward Andre...

World Cup 2014: Germany beat Algeria 2-1 in extra time to reach quarter-finals

Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama went from hero to zero as his error helped France to a 2-0 FIFA World Cup last-16 triumph. Enyeama, who plies his trade with Lille in the French top flight, made sensational saves from Karim Benzema and...

(Reuters) - A Tunisian diplomat and an embassy worker kidnapped earlier this year by unknown gunmen in Libya arrived at dawn on Monday at a Tunis airport after being freed on Sunday. With Libya's government weak and its armed forces still in formation, armed groups have...

(Reuters) - Two Egyptian police officers were killed on Monday while trying to defuse makeshift bombs planted near Cairo's presidential palace by Islamist militants close to the anniversary of the army's overthrow of an elected Islamist president. Radical Islamists have...

  (Reuters) - Iraqi troops battled to dislodge an al Qaeda splinter group from the city of Tikrit on Monday after its leader was declared caliph of a new Islamic state in lands seized this month across a swathe of Iraq and Syria . Alarming regional and world powers,...

A coolly-taken penalty by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar gave the Netherlands a stunning fightback 2-1 win over Mexico in their World Cup finals last 16 game in Fortaleza on Sunday. Giovanni Dos Santos gave Mexico the lead in the 48th minute and...

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in Damascus on Saturday that his country "will not remain passive" as jihadists push an offensive in Syria's neighbour Iraq. "Russia will not remain passive to the attempts by some groups to spread terrorism in the region,"...

A FIFA World Cup wonder goal from James Rodriguez helped fire Colombia into the quarter-finals as his double beat Uruguay 2-0. The Monaco forward has been outstanding throughout the tournament in Brazil and he again showed his star...

  Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari accepted that luck was on his team's side after they scraped into the World Cup quarter-finals on Saturday by beating Chile on penalties. "If you don't exploit the few opportunities you get, you...

Syrian rebels can help weaken jihadists fighting in Iraq, US Secretary of State John Kerry said as Washington unveiled plans to boost Syria's opposition with $500 million in arms and training. The top US diplomat flew to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for talks with the Syrian opposition...

  Human Rights Watch said Thursday that fighters inspired by Al-Qaeda had executed Iraqi soldiers en masse this month in Tikrit. In mid-June, militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) posted photos online of what they claimed to be...

Algeria progressed beyond the group stage at the FIFA World Cup for the first time in their history thanks to a 1-1 draw with Russia. Famously eliminated at the finals in Spain 32 years ago when West Germany and Austria played out a...

  Algeria through to World Cup second round as they draw 1-1 with Russia

(Reuters) - Iraqi forces launched an airborne assault on rebel-held Tikrit on Thursday with commandos flown into a stadium in helicopters, at least one of which crashed after taking fire from insurgents who have seized northern cities. Eyewitnesses said battles were raging in...

(Al Arabiya-AFP)- Libyan human rights activist and lawyer Salwa Bugaighis, who played an active part in country’s 2011 uprising, was shot dead by unknown assailants in the eastern city of Benghazi late Wednesday. “Unknown hooded men wearing military uniforms attacked Mrs...

When John Maguire was a CIA officer in Beirut in the late 1980s during that country’s bloody civil war, he spent weeks living in safe houses far from the U.S. Embassy, dodging militants who wanted to kidnap and kill Americans. In Iraq in 2014, by contrast, CIA officers have been...

FIFA has charged Luis Suarez with biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini in the teams' World Cup match, a process that could lead to the Uruguay player being banned from international competition for up to two years. Football's governing body said on Wednesday that...

DUBAI (Reuters) - The al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades had urged Lebanese Sunni Muslims to attack the Iranian-backed Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah a day before Wednesday's suicide bombing in central Beirut. No claims of responsibility have been made for the attack...