U.S.-backed forces captured a town west of Raqqa from Islamic State on Friday as they push toward the militants' Syrian stronghold, a security source and a monitoring group said. The United States said this week it started distributing weapons to Kurdish YPG militiamen who form a key part of...

Five countries have won uncontested elections in the U.N. General Assembly to serve two-year terms on the Security Council - Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Peru and Poland. The 193-member assembly also voted overwhelmingly Friday for the Netherlands to join the council for one year...

Turkish authorities detained the spokesman of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) for insulting police Friday, a party lawmaker said, the latest detention of a high-profile politician from the Kurdish-rooted opposition. Osman Baydemir, 46, served as mayor of Diyarbakir, Turkey's...

A teenage Palestinian girl who was shot by Israeli troops after she stabbed a soldier in the occupied West Bank died of her wounds in hospital Friday, Israel's military and a medical center spokeswoman said. The girl, who Palestinian authorities said was aged 16 and from the West Bank...