Government aircraft pounded rebels and their extremist allies in northern Syria overnight, activists said Wednesday, as Moscow announced new peace talks to be held in Kazakhstan on Jan. 23. Air raids targeted the rebel strongholds of Atarib and Khan al-Assal in Aleppo province, the Syrian...

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia had arrested two rights activists in the first ten days of this year and accused Riyadh of a crackdown on dissent. The organisations said in press releases that Essam Koshak in Mecca and Ahmed al-Mushaikhass in the eastern city...

 Iraqi forces have retaken at least 80 percent of east Mosul from ISIS, the spokesman of the special forces spearheading the campaign said Wednesday. "I think you can say that we have retaken 80 to 85 percent" of the eastern side of Mosul, Sabah al-Noman, spokesman for the...

President Barack Obama didn't just say farewell to the nation. He said goodbye to Air Force One, too. Obama's roundtrip to his Chicago hometown, where he delivered the speech, marked the 445th time that he's flown aboard the familiar, eye-catching blue and white U.S. government airplane with...