Polls opened in Algeria Thursday in a presidential election bitterly opposed by a protest movement that sees it as a regime ploy to cling on to power. All 61,000 polling stations around the North African country opened as planned at 8 am (0700 GMT), the official APS news agency said. No...

The 14th round of Syria peace talks discussed developments east of Euphrates River and in Idlib de-escalation zone in Syria, according to Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.   “The fourteenth round of the high-level meetings on Syria was held on 10-11 December 2019 in...

A sharp fall-off in revenues means Lebanon’s 2019 budget deficit will be much bigger than expected, caretaker finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil said on Wednesday, as the country struggles with its worst financial crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. Speaking to reporters, Khalil did not...

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday he hoped for further dialogue with Iran to free prisoners but announced new sanctions as he vowed no let-up in pressure. Iran has also voiced a willingness for more prisoner swaps after the exchange Saturday of Xiyue Wang, a US scholar...