A French government spokesman denied on Sunday a report that it paid a ransom for the release a week ago of four French journalists held captive in Syria for more than 10 months. Focus, a German magazine, published on its website a report that France paid 18 million dollars for their...

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday he was still ready to extend stalled peace talks with Israel , as long as it met his long-standing demands to free prisoners and halt building on occupied land. Israel suspended the troubled, U.S.-sponsored negotiations with...

Leaders of the Group of Seven major economies agreed to impose extra sanctions on Russia over its intervention in Ukraine , where armed pro-Moscow separatists detained a group of international observers and accused them of being NATO spies. The United States said its part of...

A new U.N. report names 21 countries where rape and other sexual violence has been committed in current and recent conflicts, from Afghanistan and Central African Republic to Myanmar and Syria. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's report, launched Thursday, says there is now unprecedented...