A casual wave to fellow diners in a Baghdad restaurant in 2008 sealed Nouri al-Maliki's reputation as the man who restored a degree of normality to a city that civil war had nearly destroyed. Now he has gone out again among the people, strolling around the city to prove he is...

The United States imposed new sanctions on allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, prompting Moscow to denounce "Cold War" tactics amid more violence in eastern Ukraine. The move to ban visas and freeze assets of the likes of Putin's friend Igor Sechin, head of...

Syrians who fled their war-torn country via unofficial crossings will be barred from voting in next month's presidential elections, the country's electoral commission chief said on Monday. "Syrians who left Syria illegally do not have the right to...

  Abdelaziz Bouteflika was sworn in as Algeria’s president for a fourth term Monday, in a televised ceremony after his re-election in a campaign he was too sick to participate in. Sitting in a wheelchair and dressed in a blue three-piece...