War kept him away from his beloved homeland for decades. Now, virtuoso oud player Naseer Shamma hopes to help rebuild conflict-scarred Iraq through a series of concerts and other projects to support culture and education. The audience at the Iraqi National Theater were on their feet,...

Pfizer has begun a study comparing its original COVID-19 vaccine with doses specially tweaked to match the hugely contagious omicron variant. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced the study on Tuesday. COVID-19 vaccine makers have been updating their shots to better match omicron in...

ISTANBUL (AP) — Rescue crews in Istanbul and Athens scrambled on Tuesday to clear roads that came to a standstill after a massive cold front and snowstorms hit much of Turkey and Greece, leaving countless people and vehicles in both cities stranded overnight in freezing conditions....

Kurdish-led forces said they raided part of a prison seized by Islamic State fighters in northeastern Syria and forced at least 300 of the militants to surrender on Monday. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, said militants were still holed up in other...