Iraq, a major Middle East grain importer, said Wednesday it planned to purchase 750,000 tonnes of wheat from abroad in 2020 and said nationwide protests that have extended to a key port were not disrupting shipments so far. Iraq needs between 4.5 million and 5 million tonnes of wheat a year...

Israeli forces have detained fifteen Palestinians in overnight raids carried out across the occupied West Bank, according to the Israeli army. In a statement released on Wednesday, the Israeli military said the people were detained for “suspected involvement in popular terror activities",...

 President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he discussed with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson the NATO military alliance and trade at a meeting a day earlier. “Enjoyed my meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom at 10 Downing Street last night. Talked about...

 NATO leaders sought to make a show of unity Wednesday as they met to conclude their annual summit, but the alliance's chief admitted a festering row with Turkey was still unresolved. What should have been a celebration of NATO's 70th birthday has been overshadowed by bitter rows about...

A Japanese doctor who spent decades working in Afghanistan was killed Wednesday along with five Afghans in an attack in the east of the country, officials said. Tetsu Nakamura, 73, who headed Peace Japan Medical Services -- known as Peshawar Kai in Japanese -- was shot by gunmen while in a...

Iran is willing to return to the negotiating table if the United States first drops sanctions, President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday, after a fuel price hike sparked deadly violence ahead of elections. European countries have been pushing for talks with Iran to salvage a 2015 nuclear deal...

Police in Hong Kong this week re-entered the campus of a university it besieged for more than 10 days last month, gathering newly discovered chemicals and petrol bombs hoarded by anti-government protesters in the Chinese-ruled city. Following the dramatic saga - where riot police and more...

Chants demanding complete regime change have echoed across Iraq for weeks, but what first brought demonstrators onto the street was the profound poverty of one of the world's most oil-rich countries. And that is what has kept them there, with protesters brushing off the resignation of Prime...

  (Zaman Al Wasl)- Leishmaniasis disease has swept the eastern province of Deir Ezzor as reports confirm 7000 cases among children, local news site said Tuesday. Furat Post (Euphrates Post) said the ‘intracellular protozoan parasite’ has spread in the eastern countryside of the...

Lebanese politicians signaled progress on Tuesday towards agreeing a new government to tackle the country’s worst economic crisis in decades, though a deal had yet to be done. Talks between the main feuding parties have been deadlocked since Saad al-Hariri resigned as prime minister in late...

Germany’s chancellor on Tuesday said she had a “good and useful” meeting with the leaders of Turkey, France, and the U.K., and discussed their efforts to end the conflict in Syria. Speaking to reporters in London after the quartet meeting at the British premier’s office, Number 10 Downing...

Trains cancelled, schools closed: France scrambled to make contingency plans Tuesday for a huge strike against pension overhauls that poses one of the biggest challenges yet to President Emmanuel Macron's sweeping reform drive. Paris metro and rail workers will walk off the job starting...

A UN envoy warned Tuesday that the continued use of violence against civilians in Iraq is "intolerable" and called on Iraqi leaders to respond with urgency to the Iraqi people's aspirations for change. "Political leaders do not have the luxury of time and must rise to the moment," Jeanine...

A U.S. charity building a tent hospital in the Gaza Strip is causing Palestinian unease by offering foreign medical volunteers the opportunity of weekend tourism in Israel, just across the volatile border. The facility, to be operated by the U.S. evangelical Christian group FriendShips, had...

Five rockets landed on Tuesday on Ain al-Asad airbase, which hosts U.S. forces in Anbar province in western Iraq, an Iraqi military statement said. No casualties were reported, it added, giving no further details.

Tunisia's prime minister-designate Habib Jemli expects to form a government next week with political independents holding most of the important portfolios, he said Tuesday. Jemli, who was named to the job by the moderate Islamist Ennahda party which finished first in October's election,...

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran was killing thousands of people for protesting and urged the world to take more notice. Disturbances in Iran began in mid-November over gasoline price hikes but quickly turned political, with demonstrators demanding the removal of the...

French President Emmanuel Macron accused Turkey of working with Islamic State proxies and said Ankara needed to clarify those ambiguities during meetings this week. “The common enemy today is the terrorist groups. I’m sorry to say, we don’t have the same definition of terrorism around the...

The world has not done enough to ensure justice is done over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a special U.N. investigator said on Tuesday. Agnes Callamard, the United Nations rapporteur for extrajudicial executions, called for more action from the European Union and the...

Lebanese politicians must agree a new government that can stabilize the economy and attract international support if the country is to stave off even deeper economic crisis. Assuming such a government can be formed, there is still no easy way forward for a country driven toward economic...