The speaker of Iraq's parliament narrowly escaped death on Monday when a roadside bomb exploded near his convoy close to the northern city of Mosul, his office said. Usama al-Nujaifi, one of Iraq's most senior Sunni Muslim politicians, was visiting al-Salam area south of Mosul when...
Noble Energy Inc ( NBL.N ) slashed the risks to its colossal Israeli natural gas project by selling a stake to Australia's largest oil producer and sealing a crucial supply deal with a Palestinian power company in one of the world's political flash points....

An Alawite village in the central province of Hama was seized by Islamist fighters on Sunday, Reuters news agency reported, adding that the fighting was “part of an offensive to try to cut off supply routes from Damascus to the north of the country.” The fighters, battling...