The second round of Syria peace talks has got off to a stormy start against a backdrop of continued rescue of civilians from the beseiged city of Homs. Members of Syria's government and opposition delegations blamed each other in Geneva on Monday for mortar attacks on convoys bringing...

Plane crashes in mountainous area in eastern Oum El Bouaghi province killing at least 99 people, local radio reports. A military transport plane has crashed in eastern Algeria, killing at least 99 people, Algerian radio has announced. The C-130 Hercules aircraft, which...

Secular activists arrested last month on the third anniversary of the revolt against Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak say they have been tortured, some with electric shocks, relatives and lawyers who have seen them said. The Interior Ministry denied any abuses. If independently...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday a draft U.N. resolution on aid access in  Syria  was "detached from reality" and urged the West to refrain from what it called one-sided accusations against Damascus. Australia, Luxembourg and Jordan last week...