Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected a request from U.S. President Donald Trump to speak by phone, an official said Monday. Trump made the request a few days ago, said the official, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media. Last week, the White...

The death toll in China from the novel coronavirus outbreak has climbed to 80, the country's health department said Monday. According to the National Health Commission, there were 2,744 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the coronavirus, also known as 2019-nCoV, including 461 in...

Three rockets slammed into the US embassy in Iraq's capital on Sunday in the first direct hit reported after months of close calls, as thousands of protesters kept up anti-government sit-ins across the country. The attack marked a dangerous escalation in the spree of rocket attacks in...

Former national security advisor John Bolton alleges in a book draft that President Donald Trump wanted to freeze Ukrainian military aid until Kiev investigated his political rivals, The New York Times reported Sunday. Democrats quickly seized on the report to press demands that Bolton and...

The NBA grappled with the sudden death of league great Kobe Bryant on Sunday, players saying they felt sick to their stomach taking to the court without having ample time to absorb the shocking news. A haunting moment of silence preceded the Houston Rockets' game against the Nuggets in...

An Iranian passenger plane overshot a runway as it landed Monday in the southwestern city of Bandar-e Mahshahr, barrelling into an adjacent highway without causing casualties, state TV reported. "Arriving at Mahshahr airport, the pilot landed the aircraft too late and this caused him to...

Kobe Bryant, the 18-time NBA All-Star who won five championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, died in a helicopter crash Sunday. He was 41. Bryant died near Calabasas, California, about 30 miles...

Protesters threw petrol bombs on Sunday night at an empty public housing complex in Hong Kong that had been earmarked to become a temporary quarantine zone as the city battles an outbreak of the SARS-like Novel Coronavirus. Hong Kong has declared the virus that first began in central China...

Palestinian officials threatened to withdraw from the Oslo Accords signed with Israel if United States President Donald Trump announces his Middle East peace plan this week.  In a statement on Sunday, the Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry called for "a clear international...

Holders Manchester City cruised into the FA Cup fifth round with a 4-0 thrashing of 10-man Fulham at the Etihad on Sunday. Tim Ream's sixth-minute red card gave the Championship side a mountain to climb after he hauled down Gabriel Jesus inside the box. Ilkay Gundogan converted the...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday visited Algeria for talks on the conflict in neighbouring Libya and plans to boost trade links. His visit comes as fighting resumed on the weekend at the frontline south of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Erdogan, accompanied by a high-level...

Hillary Clinton has returned to the political stage at the Sundance film festival with a vow to work to defeat her Republican antagonist Donald Trump in November. "Hillary," a documentary about the former Democratic standard bearer, was screened at the prestigious festival Saturday ahead of...

Israel Sunday announced that it would permit Israeli citizens to travel to Saudi Arabia for the first time, under certain conditions. Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, after consulting with the country's security establishment, issued a statement saying that Israelis would be allowed to...

Oman's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah will meet Iran's Foreign Ninister Javad Zarif in Tehran Sunday to discuss maritime security in the Hormuz strait, Oman's foreign ministry tweeted. Oman maintains friendly ties with both the United States and Iran and...

Populist Iraqi cleric Moqtaqa al-Sadr on Sunday called off demonstrations against the U.S. embassy "to avoid internal strife", his office said. Sadr had earlier called for the demonstrations to take place in Baghdad and other cities.

A Jordanian court on Sunday levelled "terrorism" charges against a man suspected of wounding eight people in a November knife attack at a popular tourist site. The suspect, Moustafa Abourouis, 22, faces up to 20 years in prison after the stabbing of three Mexicans, a Swiss woman, a...

The United Nations mission to Libya has slammed ongoing violations of a UN Security Council arms embargo, despite commitments made a week ago at an international summit in Berlin. In a statement published overnight into Sunday, UNSMIL it said it "deeply regrets the continued blatant...

Japan will evacuate all its nationals from China's quarantined city of Wuhan, the epicentre of a deadly virus, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday. "We have decided to send back all (Japanese citizens in Wuhan) to Japan if they wish so, by every means including a chartered flight," Abe...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced hope Sunday that he can "make history" in Washington this week during talks on US President Donald Trump's peace plan for the Middle East. Netanyahu has been invited to meet Trump at the White House on Monday and Tuesday to discuss the...

Security forces shot live rounds to clear protest hotspots in Baghdad and southern Iraq for a second day Sunday, sparking skirmishes with demonstrators determined to keep up their movement. Violence has resurged in the capital and Shiite-majority south this week, with more than 15 people...