The United Nations has called on forces loyal to Libya's internationally recognised government and a rival administration to commit to a humanitarian truce by midnight on Friday. The UN mission in Libya "calls on all parties to accept a humanitarian truce for Eid Al-Adha", it said in a...

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter Friday that any military presence in the Gulf from outside the region would be a "source of insecurity" for Iran, and Tehran would act to safeguard its security. Washington is lobbying international partners to join a...

Authorities plan to relax curbs in India’s Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir to allow people to offer Friday prayers, media said, as a five-day lockdown damped protests over the withdrawal of the Himalayan region’s special status. Seeking to tighten its grip on the contested...

The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday it would resume the distribution of food to 850,000 people in Yemen’s capital Sanaa next week after a two-month stoppage, having reached an agreement the Iran-aligned Houthi authorities. The U.N. agency halted some aid in Sanaa on June 20 out of...

Yemen's Houthi rebel group on Friday confirmed the death of the group leader’s brother. Ibrahim al-Houthi was "assassinated by the treacherous hands of the American-Israeli aggression," said the group's so-called Interior Ministry, referring to the Saudi-led Arab coalition. The group...

The U.N. refugee agency says fighting over Libya's capital of Tripoli has displaced more than 105,000 people since April, when a Libyan commander launched an offensive to take the city from the U.N.-backed government. The UNHCR tweeted on Friday that its relief aid could only reach about...

 A ship operated by the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders has rescued 80 migrants from a rubber dinghy off Libya. Doctors Without Borders said on Twitter Friday that the migrants were in distress, and posted pictures showing the migrants being ferried to the Norwegian-flagged...

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper asked South Korea to send troops to join a U.S.-led maritime force in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran, Yonhap news agency said Friday. Esper made the request during a meeting with Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo in South Korea, it added....

Two leading rights groups are demanding an independent probe into detention conditions of an Egyptian-American citizen held in Egypt on terrorism charges. Human Rights Watch and The Freedom Initiative said in a joint statement on Friday that Khaled Hassan had attempted to take his own life...

Britain's economy unexpectedly shrank in the second quarter of the year on Brexit turmoil, official data showed Friday, placing the country on the verge of a recession. Gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.2 percent in the April-June period, the first time the economy has contracted in...

Romelu Lukaku said on Friday that having the chance to play for Antonio Conte drove him to join Inter Milan, hailing the Italian as the world's best coach after arriving from Manchester United. Asked by club media how the arrival of former Italy boss Conte at Inter this summer had...

US authorities have sentenced Lebanese businessman Kassim Tajideen to five years in prison and ordered a fine of $50 million on suspicion of financing Hezbollah.

Demonstrators crowded the arrivals hall at Hong Kong airport on Friday, handing out anti-government leaflets and waving banners in a dozen languages in an effort to raise awareness among visitors ahead of a weekend of protests planned across the city. Several hundred protesters, mostly...

Yemen’s Houthi group launched two drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s southern Abha airport, the Iran-aligned group’s military spokesman said on Thursday. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen said later on Friday that a Houthi drone targeting Abha had been...

The Turkish Central Bank has dismissed its chief economist Hakan Kara and some department managers after a decision by the bank's assembly, a document seen by Reuters showed Friday. Among those dismissed were the bank's research and monetary policy general manager Pinar Ozlu and markets...

More than 2 million pilgrims have gathered in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia to perform initial rites of the hajj, an Islamic pilgrimage that takes the faithful along a path traversed by the Prophet Muhammad some 1,400 years ago. The hajj in Islam is meant to unify Muslims, with...

Pakistan's foreign minister is visiting China as part of efforts to pressure India to reverse its decision revoking the special status of the disputed region of Kashmir. Shah Mahmood Qureshi will meet with Chinese leaders Friday. Before leaving for Beijing, Qureshi said he will apprise...

A series of explosions rocked an ammunition depot in Turkey's Hatay province, near the Syrian border, early Friday and nearby homes were evacuated but there were no reports of casualties, Turkish broadcaster NTV said. The cause of the blasts, at around 3:30 am (0030 GMT) in Hatay's Reyhanli...

Mother of five Zalina Gabibulayeva says she was "tricked" into joining the jihadists in Syria five years ago. Now, repentant and repatriated to Russia's Chechnya, she goes into schools to teach others of the dangers of extremism. Countries around the world are grappling with the question of...

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri indicated that solutions to a political crisis that has paralyzed his government were almost within reach following a meeting on Thursday with President Michel Aoun. The crisis spiraled out of a deadly June 30 shooting in the Chouf mountains that...