Former military chief Benny Gantz has mounted a serious challenge to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of April 9 polls by maintaining a tough-guy aura with only vague policy ideas. When he declared in December as an electoral rival to Netanyahu, the 59-year-old ex-paratrooper...

Algerians have reacted positively to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s resignation late Tuesday following weeks of popular protests against his continued rule.   Ali Benflis, head of the Talae al-Hurriyat opposition party, expressed his “thorough satisfaction with the end of...

New French minister and government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye has spent almost five years at Emmanuel Macron’s side as his media adviser, earning a reputation for blunt speech and a willingness to put the press in its place. Ndiaye was named to the post on Sunday night in a mini-cabinet...

A Palestinian attempted to stab an Israeli in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday before being shot dead, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. The Israeli army said a Palestinian tried to carry out a stabbing attack near a military checkpoint close to Nablus in the northern West...