(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia blocked calls on Thursday from poorer members of the OPEC oil exporter group for production cuts to arrest a slide in global prices, sending benchmark crude plunging to a fresh four-year low. Brent oil fell more than $6 to $71.25 a barrel after OPEC...

BEIRUT, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Syria's state spending is expected to rise 12 percent to 1.55 trillion Syrian pounds ($9.10 billion) next year, driven by higher social support costs, state news agency SANA reported citing a draft budget presented to lawmakers on Sunday....

Islamic State has consolidated its grip on oil supplies in Iraq and now presides over a sophisticated smuggling empire with illegal exports going to Turkey , Jordan and Iran, according to smugglers and Iraqi officials. Six months after it grabbed vast swaths of territory, the...

Reporting by Maher Radhwan; Translation by Yusra Ahmed HOMS (Zaman Al Wasl)- The number of Syrian disabled has increased significantly in the last three years since the revolution started in March 2011, as a result of indiscriminate bombing on...