(The Guardian)- In the valleys between Damascus and Lebanon, where whole communities had abandoned their lives to war, a change is taking place. For the first time since the conflict broke out, people are starting to return. But the people settling in are not the same as those who fled...

The United States has not received a formal invitation to Syria peace talks being organized by Russia and Turkey to be held in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Jan. 23, the U.S. State Department said Friday. "To my knowledge we have not received ... a formal invitation to the talks," State...

Israel's UN ambassador on Friday raised concern over what he said were moves at the Security Council to adopt a new measure to build on the Paris Middle East conference. Sweden's Ambassador Olof Skoog, who holds this month's presidency of the Security Council, said however that there were no...

Poland on Friday told US President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration that any improvement in Washington's ties with Moscow cannot come at the cost of harming Warsaw. "You can't criticise anyone for wanting to improve relations with Russia," Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski...

The Donald Trump administration would be committing "sheer folly" if it supports the European Union's breakup as it seems to be doing, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to the EU warned Friday. Anthony Gardner, who is leaving his Brussels post after three years, said Trump's transition team had...

The Kremlin Friday declined to confirm whether it would invite the United States to Syria peace talks later this month after Washington was excluded from brokering a recent truce in the war-torn country. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday that Turkey and Russia had...

Refugees and migrants are dying in Europe's sudden cold snap, and governments must do more to help them rather than pushing them back from borders and subjecting them to violence and confiscations, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday. "It's about saving lives, not about red...

Prospective U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson better watch his mouth, angry Chinese media said Friday, warning Donald Trump's nominee that his threats to block China in the South China Sea are fighting words. The comments came after the former ExxonMobil CEO told U.S. senators that he...

(New York Times)- The long convoy from an American armored brigade slid unobtrusively across the German frontier into Poland just before 10 a.m. on Thursday. A dozen residents from the southwestern border town of Olszyna turned up to watch. “Americans coming here is the biggest thing that’s...

China's commodity imports jumped again in December, pushing 2016 shipments of goods from crude to iron ore to record levels and boosting expectations that lower domestic output will help prolong the months-long buying binge. For 2016, shipments of oil, iron ore, unwrought copper, copper...

Prospective U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson better watch his mouth, angry Chinese media said Friday, warning Donald Trump's nominee that his threats to block China in the South China Sea are fighting words. The comments came after the former ExxonMobil CEO told U.S. senators that he...

(The Guardian)- A Hungarian television camerawoman who was filmed tripping and kicking migrants fleeing police has been found guilty of breaching the peace. A judge in Szeged, southern Hungary, said the actions of Petra László triggered “indignation and outrage”, and rejected her defence...

Russia and Turkey have signed an agreement spelling out mechanisms to "coordinate" their air forces in Syria when conducting strikes "on terrorist targets", the Russian defence ministry said Thursday. Delegations from the two countries, which last month brokered a ceasefire in war-torn...

French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen was seen at Trump Tower on Thursday but a spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump said she was not meeting with him or his team. "No meetings with anyone," transition spokesman Sean Spicer said. "It's a public building." Le Pen,...

The United States on Thursday blacklisted 18 senior Syrian officials it said were connected to the country's weapons of mass destruction program, after an international investigation found Syrian government forces were responsible for chlorine gas attacks against civilians. The action marked...

France said on Thursday Syrian peace talks should resume as quickly as possible under the auspices of the United Nations and appeared to question plans for Russian-backed discussions on the subject in Kazakhstan. Syria's government and rebel forces started a ceasefire on Dec. 30 as a first...

The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday it had started changing the make-up of its strike force in Syria as part of a previously announced partial drawdown, Russian news agencies reported. The ministry was cited as saying that the first six SU-24 bombers had already been withdrawn, but...

China's Navy has launched a new electronic reconnaissance ship, state media said Thursday, the latest addition to an expanding fleet and as Beijing's new assertiveness to territorial claims in the South China Sea fuels tensions. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) now operates six electronic...

The dollar lost ground against the Japanese yen, Australian dollar and euro during Asian trading Thursday, as investors tempered their optimism over the likely policy stance of President-elect Donald Trump following his first news conference since the U.S. election. Mr. Trump spoke widely,...

The U.S. military in Afghanistan says its investigation into a November firefight with the Taliban in Kunduz province has shown that 33 civilians died in the raid during which U.S. troops fired on Afghan homes. The probe followed claims that civilian deaths resulted from airstrikes called in...