(Reuters) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered the first group of about 100 U.S. troops to head to the Middle East in the next few days to establish training sites for Syrian opposition fighters battling Islamic State militants, the Pentagon said on Friday. Admiral...

UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon painted a worsening picture of the war in Syria, citing widespread conflict, indiscriminate government bombing, opposition shelling, high civilian casualties and deteriorating humanitarian conditions. In...

  As Salman bin Abdulaziz becomes the new king of Saudi Arabia, he is not expected to make any significant policy changes regarding falling oil prices, the economy and relations with other states in the Middle East, experts say.  "We actually predict King Salman to...

  The most significant political news from Saudi Arabia this week was not the   death of King Abdullah , at the age of ninety, or the ascension of his half-brother Salman to the throne. Abdullah had been ill and Salman had been his designated successor for some...