A major thunderstorm hit the Gulf region on Thursday night with heavy rain lashing parts of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the Saudi capital Riyadh, which was the scene of major flooding earlier this week.   Earlier climate forecasts compelled the...

    A wave of attacks, most of them car bombs targeting Shiite neighborhoods, rocked Baghdad early on Wednesday, killing at least 24 people in the latest bout of bloodshed to rock Iraq.   The violence, which left 65 others wounded, comes amid a...

Russia hosted Syrian and Iranian delegations for separate rounds of talks on Monday in a renewed diplomatic push for a Syrian peace conference in which Moscow says Tehran must play a role. President Vladimir Putin, who has stepped up his personal involvement on the Syrian issue, also...

Iraqi authorities announced the execution of a dozen “terrorism” convicts on Monday, defying widespread international condemnation of Baghdad’s use of the death penalty as violence nationwide has surged.   The latest executions, carried out on Sunday, bring to...