Budget needs are forcing Saudi Arabia to push for oil prices of at least $70 per barrel this year, industry sources say, even though U.S. shale oil producers could benefit and Riyadh’s share of global crude markets might be further eroded. Riyadh, OPEC’s de facto leader, said it was...

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that soldiers will be deployed across the country to help maintain security during Yellow Vest protests planned this weekend. But the move has been met with fierce criticism. The troops will be redeployed from the "Sentinelle" anti-terror...

Signs of a weak first quarter for the eurozone mounted on Friday as a closely-watched survey pointed to March output being dragged further down by manufacturing weakness, especially in Germany, Europe's largest economy. Data company IHS Markit said in a first estimate for the month that...

The capsizing of a Tigris river ferry packed with Iraqi families celebrating Kurdish New Year in Mosul left at least 100 people dead, mostly women and children, the interior ministry said Friday, as grief and anger swept the Iraqi city. Residents of the northern city, scarred by years of...

Algerians staged fresh demonstrations in Algiers on Friday to demand the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.  Defying relatively cold weather and rain, protesters gathered in several parts of the capital singing patriotic anthems and shouting anti-Bouteflika slogans. The...

Germany on Friday opposed U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to recognize Israel's claim to sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights in Syria. Ulrike Demmer, the government’s deputy spokeswoman, told a news conference in Berlin that Germany’s stance on the status of Golan Heights...

U.S. President Donald Trump's statement that it was time to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights has brought the region to the edge of a new crisis, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday. In a speech at a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation,...

Children under age 15 are almost three times more likely to die from diseases due to lack of clean water and sanitation than from violence in countries in conflict, the United Nations’ children’s agency reported on Friday. Most vulnerable are young children under age 5, who are 20 times...

Venezuelan authorities detained opposition leader Juan Guaido's chief of staff on Thursday in a pre-dawn raid, an escalating crackdown by President Nicolas Maduro against his opponents that the White House said would "not go unanswered." Maduro's government accused Roberto Marrero of...

Boeing's 737 MAX aircraft will be outfitted with a warning light for malfunctions in the anti-stall system suspected in October's fatal crash in Indonesia, an industry source told AFP Thursday, standardizing a feature previously sold as an optional extra. The development comes as the...

The Palestinian Authority faces a suffocating financial crisis after deep US aid cuts and an Israeli move to withhold tax transfers, sparking fears for the stability of the West Bank. The authority, headed by President Mahmud Abbas, announced a package of emergency measures on March 10,...

Growing restrictions on Hong Kong's freedoms are hurting business confidence, the United States warned in a report Friday, accusing the city's government of sacrificing human rights to support mainland Chinese priorities. Hong Kong enjoys liberties unseen on the mainland under the "one...

New Zealand broadcast the Muslim call for prayer on national television and radio Friday as a sign of solidarity with that community after recent terror attacks in the country.  Friday marked exactly one week since the attacks in which at least 50 Muslims were killed when a terrorist...

An explosion on Thursday in a chemical plant in eastern China killed at least 44 people and injured 640 others, said Chinese state media. The blast took place at a plant run by Tianjiayi Chemical in Yancheng, said state news agency Xinhua. Another 90 people were seriously injured, the...

The EU agreed to a Brexit extension until May 22 if Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal is approved by the House of Commons, European Council President Donald Tusk said Thursday. If the deal is not approved by parliament, the EU would allow an extension to April 12, Tusk said in Brussels....

Israel said on Thursday a U.N. report critical of its use of lethal force during Palestinian protests on the Gaza border was biased and should have included a demand that the enclave’s dominant Hamas group take action to stop anti-Israeli violence. A U.N. Commission of Inquiry on the...

U.S. sanctions on Hezbollah are harming Lebanon as a whole, President Michel Aoun said on Thursday ahead of a visit to the country by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The United States deems the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah group a terrorist organization and has been steadily...

At least 79 people died when an overloaded ferry carrying families on an outing sank in the Tigris river in Mosul in northern Iraq, medical sources told Reuters on Thursday. Most of the casualties on the ferry were women and children who could not swim, said the head of Mosul’s Civil...

Cristiano Ronaldo was fined 20,000 euros ($22,738) by UEFA on Thursday for mimicking Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone's crotch-grabbing celebration in Juventus' Champions League last-16 win last week. The 34-year-old scored a second-leg hat-trick as the Italian champions overturned a 2-0...

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that Europe was "finally" united in addressing the threat from China, as Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a five-day tour of the continent. Xi's visit comes a week after the European Union released a 10-point plan outlining a shift to more...