Sudan’s most prominent Islamist politician is under investigation over former leader Omar al-Bashir’s rise to power in a 1989 coup, an official from his party said on Wednesday. The investigation into Ali al-Haj, secretary-general of the Islamist Popular Congress Party (PCP), is a...

 U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun said Wednesday the window was still open for Pyongyang to negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program, but it needed to seize the moment. In remarks to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in his nomination...

The Arab League said it is to hold an urgent meeting Monday on the U.S. announcement that it no longer considers Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank illegal. Hossam Zaki, the pan-Arab body's deputy secretary general, said several members had backed a Palestinian Authority call for...

Anti-government demonstrators in southern Iraq shut roads to two major ports and a key oil field Wednesday, port officials and AFP correspondents said, leading to a brief operational halt. Correspondent in oil-rich Basra province saw protesters block access routes to the ports of Khor...

Saudi Arabia's King Salman urged arch-rival Iran on Wednesday to abandon an expansionist ideology that has "harmed" its own people, following violent street protests in the Islamic republic. A wave of demonstrations erupted in the sanctions-hit country on Friday after an announcement that...

UNICEF on Wednesday marked World Children’s Day to raise awareness on children’s rights. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. “As we mark 30 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, let's also look ahead to the next 30 years...

Greece will shut down overcrowded refugee camps on its outlying islands and replace them with more restrictive holding centers, authorities said on Wednesday. Living conditions for thousands of people in camps on five Aegean islands have been decried by aid groups as appalling. The country...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday claimed victory over unrest he blamed on foreign enemies, according to state media, after protests over fuel price rises rocked the nation and left scores reported dead. “The Iranian people have again succeeded in an historic test and shown they...

Some anti-government protesters trapped inside a Hong Kong university Wednesday tried to flee through the sewers, where one student said she saw snakes, but fireman prevented further escape bids by blocking a metal manhole into the system. Reuters witnesses said fewer than 100 protesters...

A coalition government or new elections? Israeli incumbent prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and rival Benny Gantz traded blame over faltering talks Wednesday ahead of a midnight deadline. Former military general Gantz has until 11:59 pm (2159 GMT) to cut a coalition deal, or the country...

Days of protests over rising fuel prices and a subsequent government crackdown have killed at least 106 people across Iran, Amnesty International said Tuesday, adding that the real figure may be much higher. Iran’s government has not released a toll of those arrested, injured or killed...

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement released three vessels and 16 people it had seized, South Korea’s foreign ministry and a Houthi military source in Yemen said on Wednesday. The seizure on Sunday was the latest incident at sea around Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is leading a Western-backed...

A UN independent human rights expert on Tuesday condemned the U.S. policy shift on the settlement issue in the occupied Palestinian territories. “This is not a step towards peace or justice in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” said Michael Lynk, the Special Rapporteur for the situation of...

Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the enemy had been "repelled" in the country where dozens are thought to have died in violent protests sparked by a petrol price hike. Demonstrations broke out in the sanctions-hit Islamic republic on Friday after it was announced the price...

More than 120 journalists are still being held in Turkey’s jails, a global record, and the situation of the media in the country has not improved since the lifting of a two-year state of emergency last year, a global press watchdog said on Tuesday. Turkey declared a state of emergency soon...

Amnesty International said on Tuesday that more than 100 protestors had been killed in 21 cities in Iran during unrest that broke out over a rise in fuel prices last week. Snipers have shot into crowds of protestors from rooftops and, in one case, from a helicopter, Amnesty said. The...

The U.S. aircraft carrier strike group Abraham Lincoln sailed through the vital Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, U.S. officials told Reuters, amid simmering tensions between Iran and the United States. Tensions in the Gulf have risen since attacks on oil tankers this summer, including off the...

King Mohammed VI of Morocco on Tuesday appointed former Interior Minister and ambassador to France Chakib Benmoussa as head of a committee to tackle social inequality and poverty, the Royal Palace said in a statement. The King said in July that the committee was intended to design a “new...

Protesters prevented Lebanon’s parliament from holding its first session in two months on Tuesday, escalating a wave of demonstrations against rulers blamed for steering the country into economic collapse. Banks reopened after a one-week closure, with police stationed at branches and banks...

An Algerian court has jailed four protesters for 18 months for disrupting a candidate’s campaign for the Dec. 12 presidential election which is opposed by a mass protest movement. The court sentenced the four on Monday after protests on Sunday in the western city of Tlemcen, where one of...