violence against Christian minorities is now a "global crisis" as worshippers are driven out of their ancient homelands by militants, a senior minister warns Christianity is in danger of becoming extinct in its ancient homelands because of a rising tide of sectarian attacks, a...

Turkey on Friday warned that it would not accept this week's declaration of provisional self-rule by Kurds in neighbouring war-torn Syria. "Turkey cannot permit a fait accompli, there is no question of accepting such a thing in Syria," Turkish President Abdullah Gul said in televised...

    A Syrian rebel group claims that it has ambushed and killed a group of Russian mercenaries who may have been working for a Chinese security contractor. The jihadist fighters from an Al Qaeda affiliate “Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS)” claim to have killed the...

  Palestinian civilians are being embroiled in Israeli military training, including mock arrests, raids on private homes and incursions into villages, without being told they are involved in army exercises. The  Israel  Defence Forces (IDF) defended...