Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday recognizing Ukraine's Crimea region as a “sovereign and independent country,” just hours after the strategic Black Sea peninsula declared it had broken away from Ukraine. The moves triggered the toughest Western sanctions...

    The new U.S. chief envoy for Syria on Monday pledged continued American backing for political opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as   the country’s conflict   moves into a fourth year. “Assad will go to any length to maintain...

U.S. special forces have seized a tanker that fled with a cargo of oil from a Libyan port controlled by anti-government rebels, halting their attempt to sell crude on the global market. Gunmen demanding regional autonomy and a share of oil wealth had managed to load the ship, which...

At least three people were killed and six wounded when a suicide car bomber struck a petrol station in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley near the border with  Syria , a security source said. He said two of the dead were members of Hezbollah who had approached the vehicle in the town of...