More than 70 Syrian military officers, including six generals and 22 colonels, have deserted President Bashar al-Assad's army in the past 36 hours and have crossed the border into Turkey, the biggest such defection in months, an official told AFP on Saturday. The defections of the 71 army...

Hassan Rowhani, the bearded cleric who is leading the pack in Iran's presidential election, is a moderate who has pledged to engage more with world powers in hopes of easing crippling economic sanctions. Rowhani, who headed Iran's nuclear negotiating team in the early 2000s under reformist...

Iraqi press freedom activists on Saturday decried the detention for more than 10 days of two journalists accused of stealing the notebook of the country's defence minister following a meeting of political leaders. Mohammed Fuad and Afdhal Jumaa are alleged to have stolen Saadun al-Dulaimi's...

Russia's foreign minister said Saturday that the evidence put forth by the United States of chemical weapons use in Syria apparently doesn't meet stringent criteria for reliability. The Obama administration said this week that it will give lethal aid to Syrian rebels in light of evidence...