President Mahmoud Abbas is acting to shake up Palestinian politics with peace talks with Israel in deep freeze and unity efforts with Hamas Islamists who run the Gaza Strip stalled. In power for more than a decade, and facing a mounting challenge to his stewardship, Abbas, 80, resigned...

(Reuters)- As many as 50 refugees were found dead in a parked truck in eastern Austria on Thursday, the Krone newspaper reported, saying initial indications were that they suffocated. The interior ministry had no immediate comment on the report. Tens of thousands of refugees...

Islamic State has seized new territory from Syrian rebels in northern Syria, advancing in an area where Turkey and the United States are planning to open a new front against the group. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group tracking the war, said it had seized five...

Syrian insurgents, the Syrian army and Lebanese group Hezbollah agreed on a 48-hour ceasefire in the rebel-held town of Zabadani near Lebanon's border and two Shi'ite villages in Idlib province, sources close to negotiations on both sides said. The ceasefire would begin Thursday at 6 a.m....