A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Florida on Thursday night carrying Israel’s first lunar lander on a mission that if successful will make the Jewish state only the fourth nation to achieve a controlled touchdown on the moon’s surface. The unmanned robotic lander dubbed Beresheet...

The risk of Britain crashing out of the European Union on March 29 without a deal to ease Brexit has increased this month, the deputy head of the European Commission said on Thursday. Asked during a conference in Brussels if Britain would leave on the date scheduled, First Vice President...

 Afghan Taliban leaders said on Thursday that their new political chief will not be attending peace talks with U.S. envoys due to take place in Qatar next week. U.S. officials had been keen to negotiate with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, hoping the Taliban's co-founder and military...

Canada is looking to quickly bring over siblings of a Syrian refugee distraught over the loss of her seven children in a Halifax house fire, the prime minister said Thursday. "The immigration minister is seized with this particular case," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said when asked if...

The Palestinian finance minister on Thursday announced salary cuts for civil servants, days after Israel said it would withhold tens of millions of dollars in tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority. Israel's security cabinet on Sunday approved the freezing of $138 million (122 million...

Sitting in his cafe near the spot where the protests against Muammar Gaddafi touched off the Libyan revolution eight years ago, Miftah Atluba is not sorry the dictator has gone. Yet like many in Benghazi, who are tired after three years of street fighting that flattened whole districts, the...

Activists blocked roads and rail lines in Catalonia on Thursday as a region-wide strike began against the trial of separatist leaders for their role in a failed 2017 secession attempt. Called by a small pro-independence union, Intersindical CSC, but without the backing of larger unions, the...

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and his closest rival Atiku Abubakar made their final appeal for votes on the last day of campaigning on Thursday ahead of a presidential election on Saturday that was delayed by a week. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) delayed the...

The United States is not discussing with North Korea the possibility of removing U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula and is unsure whether Pyongyang has decided to fully denuclearize, senior Trump administration officials said on Thursday. Ahead of a summit meeting next week between...

rexit has torn the fabric of Britain’s political system, say a group of 11 lawmakers behind a dramatic series of defections that have sent shockwaves through one of the world’s oldest and most stable parliaments. But the group needs to incite a much wider rebellion to achieve its goal of...

Russia has doubts over the U.S. intention to deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela scheduled on Saturday. "If the organizers really want to just deliver some kind of humanitarian aid to the needy, why not use the specialized UN agencies that have extensive and invaluable experience in...

Iraq’s intelligence apparatus has dismantled a clandestine group that had helped finance Daesh terrorist operations around the world, according to Iraq’s National Intelligence Service (NIS). In a Thursday statement, the NIS described the group as “the largest Daesh financing operation ever...

The Trump administration is accusing President Nicolas Maduro of starving Venezuelans by blocking tons of American-supplied humanitarian aid stored next door in Colombia. In Russia, the Kremlin sees the opposition's plan to ram the aid across the border as a reckless pretext for ordering a...

Turkey criticized on Thursday as “unacceptable” a vote by the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee calling for the suspension of EU accession negotiations with it. The Foreign Affairs Committee called on the European Commission and member states on Wednesday to formally suspend EU...

- The last civilians are expected to be evacuated from Islamic State’s final enclave in eastern Syria on Thursday, clearing the way for U.S.-backed forces to attack jihadists still holed up inside, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said. The village of Baghouz at the Iraqi border is...

Network operator Deutsche Telekom reported Thursday tumbling profits but higher revenues in 2018, saying the smaller bottom line was down to the previous year's one-off lift from US tax cuts and sticking to its forecasts for 2019. Net profit at the Bonn-based giant fell 37.4 percent, to...

With flaming barricades and widespread looting, 10 days of street violence in Haiti have all but buried a tourism industry that managed to resurrect itself after a devastating earthquake in 2010. Ugly, violent footage beamed around the world has again sent the message that this...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's strongest challengers in Israel's April 9 general election joined forces on Thursday, marking a dramatic turn in a race his right-wing Likud party had been predicted to win easily. Benny Gantz, a respected former military chief of staff, and centrist...

 Palestine - An Israeli fighter jet on Wednesday launched airstrikes on the eastern Gaza Strip where Palestinians were staging a protest, according to eyewitnesses. Two missiles were dropped near the protesters, the eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency. No casualties were reported so...

 Islamic State looks about to lose its last foothold on the banks of the Euphrates in Syria, but though its era of territorial rule may have been expunged for now, there is near universal agreement that the group remains a threat. WHAT HAS ITS TERRITORIAL DEFEAT ACCOMPLISHED?...