THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Santa won't be getting his traditional welcome in the Dutch city of Utrecht this year. The ceremonial head of Carnival celebrations in Germany's Cologne had to bow out because he tested positive for COVID-19. And Austria is considering imposing a lockdown on...

  A Lebanese municipality in the northern Bekaa region has imposed discriminatory restrictions on Syrian refugees relating to wages and movement, activists said Thursday.   The Ras Baalbek municipality set a very low wage for Syrian workers that should not be exceeded, and imposed a...

Top Israeli defense officials say the country is preparing for the possibility of an armed conflict with regional arch-rival Iran and its proxies. Israeli army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi said Tuesday that the Israeli military was “speeding up the operational plans and readiness...

Syria’s military said Israel carried out airstrikes Monday night on central and western provinces, wounding two soldiers and causing material damage. The military said Israeli warplanes fired missiles while flying over neighboring Lebanon. It added that Syrian air defenses shot down most...