(BBC)- During every visit to the self-declared republic of Somaliland, I notice something new. This time, there are even more multi-storey shopping malls, hotels and luxury villas in the capital, Hargeisa. Just two decades ago it was known as The Dresden of Africa, the city pulverised by...

The U.N.'s agency for Palestinian refugees Monday appealed for emergency funds to provide aid to nearly half a million Palestinians affected by the war in Syria. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, said almost all the estimated 450,000 Palestinian refugees still inside Syria...

Iran's former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died Sunday after a decades-long career in the ruling elite, where his moderate views were not always welcome but his cunning guided him through revolution, war and the country's turbulent politics. The political survivor's life spanned the...

Syrian refugees in Lebanon are "barely coping", with half of children out of school and more families falling into poverty, a UN study has found. Some 1.5 million Syrians seeking refuge in Lebanon remain highly vulnerable, even after three years of living there, and their economic situation...