Russia is closing in on a deal with Turkey to supply its latest S-400 air-defense system to Ankara, Moscow said Saturday, in the latest sign of restored ties. "Moscow and Ankara have almost finished discussing the technical side of the contract for S-400," Russian state giant Rostec said in...

( The Washington Post )- Despite pledges to account for every U.S. weapon sent to Syrian fighters battling the Islamic State, the Pentagon’s current plan to ensure they don’t fall in the wrong hands is problematic, experts say. Last month, following the Pentagon’s announcement that it was...

Two U.S. aircraft carriers and their escort vessels carried out naval maneuvers in the Sea of Japan this week in a show of force directed at North Korea, a U.S. official said Friday. The USS Carl Vinson and the USS Ronald Reagan led the three-day exercises that ended Friday, with a total of...

Five countries have won uncontested elections in the U.N. General Assembly to serve two-year terms on the Security Council - Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Peru and Poland. The 193-member assembly also voted overwhelmingly Friday for the Netherlands to join the council for one year...

A Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft carrying French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy landed on the Kazakh steppe Friday, ending their marathon 196-day mission to the International Space Station. "All is well. The landing has taken place. Now the cosmonauts will be evacuated...

Iran has stayed within key limits on its nuclear activities imposed by a deal with world powers but is close to once again breaching a ceiling on its stock of one chemical, a quarterly report by the U.N. atomic watchdog showed on Friday. The report was the second since the January...

Russia is considering sending at least several hundred thousand tonnes of grains as part of new humanitarian aid supplies to Syria, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Friday. Syria was once self-sufficient in wheat production but continued fighting in the main grain-producing areas...

Beijing vowed Friday to uphold the Paris climate accord after the United States withdrew from the pact, saying it was a "responsibility shouldered by China as a responsible major country". "We think the Paris accord reflects the widest agreement of the international community with regards to...

A bomb blast at a market in a northern Yemeni town killed six civilians and injured 15 others Thursday night, security officials said. Assailants planted an improvised explosive device at a market in al-Hazm northeast of the capital just as it was packed with shoppers during the Muslim holy...

Afghan security forces fired into the air Friday to hold back protesters demanding the resignation of President Ashraf Ghani's government following this week's devastating truck bomb attack in Kabul. More than 1,000 demonstrators gathered near the site of Wednesday's blast, which killed more...

The United Nations Security Council will vote Friday on a U.S. and Chinese proposal to blacklist more North Korean individuals and entities after the country's repeated ballistic missile launches, diplomats said Thursday. The draft resolution, seen by Reuters, would sanction four entities,...

Afghan security forces fired into the air Friday to hold back protesters demanding the resignation of President Ashraf Ghani's government following this week's devastating truck bomb attack in Kabul, Reuters reporters said. More than 1,000 demonstrators gathered near the site of Wednesday's...

President Donald Trump's administration asked the US Supreme Court on Thursday to reinstate its controversial ban on travelers from six Muslim majority nations despite repeated setbacks in the lower courts. In its filing, the government asked the highest court in the land to rule on the...

China and the European Union will show unity in fighting global warming at a summit in Brussels on Friday, a day after President Donald Trump announced he would withdraw the United States from an international climate pact. The meeting between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and top EU officials...

Donald Trump’s fractious first meeting with NATO has left European allies wondering where the military alliance goes next, according to diplomats in Brussels who held a post-mortem on the U.S. president’s visit this week. After apparently moderating his stance toward an organization he once...

( The Guardian )- Donald Trump will not order the moving of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in the near future, despite strong lobbying in recent days by senior Israeli officials. A senior US official disclosed that Trump – like all his presidential predecessors – has...

US President Donald Trump Thursday expressed sadness and sympathy for victims of what he labelled a "terrorist attack" at a casino in the Philippines capital Manila. "We're closely monitoring the situation," Trump said in response to the gunfire attack, which was quickly claimed by the...

Egypt defended on Thursday a new law on non-governmental organizations that three U.S. Republican senators have called "draconian" and a sign of "a growing crackdown on human rights and peaceful dissent". UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein also criticized the law,...

President Donald Trump has decided not to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem for now, a US official said Thursday, shying away from a major campaign promise. An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Trump had signed a legal waiver that keeps the embassy in Tel Aviv,...

A meeting between the two men who run Russia and Saudi Arabia's oil empires spoke volumes about the new relationship between the energy superpowers. It was the first time that Rosneft boss Igor Sechin and Saudi Aramco chief Amin Nasser had held a formal, scheduled meeting - going beyond the...