Violent winds and torrential rain battered Spain, Portugal and France overnight leaving at least four people dead, rescuers said Friday, as the region braced for the arrival of another storm. In Portugal, one man died in a road accident caused by a falling tree 50 kilometres (30 miles)...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 13 civilians, including women and children, were killed in heavy air strikes carried out by the Syrian regime and key ally Russia on northern Idlib province, activists said Friday. The air strikes struck eastern Idlib and its capital the Maaret al-Numan. ...

Clashes between Syrian regime forces and armed groups in the country's last major opposition bastion have killed more than 60 on both sides in the past 24 hours despite UN calls for de-escalation, a war monitoring group said Friday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said...

Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani called Friday for early elections to end the months of political paralysis that have gripped the protest-hit country. "The quickest and most peaceful way out of the current crisis and to avoid plunging into the unknown, chaos or internal...