Iraqis voted on Wednesday in their first national election since U.S. forces withdrew in 2011, with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki seeking a third term amid rising violence. Iraq's western province of Anbar is torn by fighting as Sunni Muslim militants battle the Iraqi military....

Dozens of children are among the latest victims of the Syrian civil war after barrel bombs fell on an elementary school Wednesday, dissidents said. Syrian forces dropped the bombs on an opposition-held area of Aleppo, the country's largest city, the opposition Local Coordination...

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A U.N. official says Jordan is opening a new, sprawling tent city to accommodate tens of thousands more Syrian refugees who are expected to flee fighting as their nation's civil war continues unabated. Helene Daubelcour says Jordanian officials will open...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations on Tuesday rejected calls for it to deliver humanitarian aid across borders into Syria without the approval of the government in Damascus, saying such operations would be possible only under a stronger U.N. Security Council resolution....