Tokyo (AFP) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was rushing home from the Middle East Wednesday to take charge of Tokyo's response to Islamic militants threatening to kill two nationals unless he pays a $200 million ransom. A defiant Abe vowed he would not bow to "terrorism", as...

Paris (AFP) - A group of pro-Syrian regime hackers briefly took over the Twitter account of France's Le Monde newspaper early Wednesday, tweeting several messages including one reading "Je ne suis pas Charlie". The tweet was a negative reference to the "Je Suis Charlie" (I am...

An Israeli helicopter attack killed five members of Hezbollah operating out of Syria over the weekend. Among the dead were senior Hezbollah figures and an Iranian general, raising tensions in Lebanon of a potential return to hostilities between the two neighboring countries....

BEIRUT, Lebanon — American support for a pair of diplomatic initiatives in Syria underscores the shifting views of how to end the civil war there and the West’s quiet retreat from its demand that the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad , step down immediately. The Obama...