Israel Sunday rejected a proposal to send international observers to a flash-point holy site in a bid to calm unrest after five more stabbing incidents defied a security crackdown. Diplomatic moves to halt the more than two weeks of unrelenting violence gained steam meanwhile, with U.S....

Russian planes carried out 39 sorties and hit 51 Islamic State targets over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday. The aircraft hit targets in Hama, Latakia, Damascus and Aleppo regions, it added, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, Fateh Aleppo, an alliance of Islamist...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel travels to Istanbul on Sunday desperate to secure Turkey's help in stemming the flow of migrants from the Middle East to Europe, but without being seen to sacrifice their human rights. Dubbed a "punch-bag" for her own party by some German media due...

Egypt kicked off a long-awaited parliamentary election on Sunday, the final step in a process that was meant to put the country back on a democratic course but which critics say has been undermined by state repression. Egypt has been without a parliament since June 2012 when a...