Saudi Arabia's civil defense directorate says 717 people were killed in a crush of Muslim pilgrims near the holy city of Mecca. Thursday's disaster was the deadliest such incident on the annual hajj pilgrimage in more than two decades, and comes nearly two weeks after a crane collapsed in...

(Translation by Yusra Ahmed) All difficult circumstances and hard living conditions from poverty, unemployment, bad weather have gathered to harden the life of people in the countryside of Hasaka, especially in the days of  Eid Adha, beside school opening time, added to unbearable rules of...

An insurgent group fighting in Syria made up of around 1,500 Chechen, Uzbek and Tajik fighters has pledged allegiance to al Qaeda's Syria wing Nusra Front, Reuters  said on Wednesday. Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (Muhajireen Brigade) made the pledge in a statement distributed by...

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed the heads of four working groups on Syria, the United Nations said on Tuesday, signaling a step toward talks where warring parties are expected to discuss how to implement a roadmap for peace. "It is hoped that their outcomes...