Three years after Bahraini security forces subdued a popular uprising, the ruling family has launched a new dialogue with opponents to tackle simmering discontent; but a breakthrough remains elusive. Bahrain's fellow conservative Gulf Arab states and the West have a stake in the...

 Warning that "failure" was staring him in the face, the Syria peace talks mediator said on Thursday that the United States and Russia had promised renewed support to keep their rival Syrian allies talking. U.N. diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi met senior diplomats from Washington and...

    Gaza's Hamas authorities have blocked a U.N. refugee agency from introducing textbooks promoting human rights into local schools, saying it ignores Palestinian cultural mores and focuses too heavily on "peaceful" means of conflict resolution....

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "great shock" on Tuesday over reports of a massacre in the Syrian village of Maan. A statement released by Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said the UN leader was disturbed by reports of killings in Maan on February 9. "Dozens of...