Iran has freed nine of 12 Indian crew from a Panama-flagged tanker seized on July 14, India's Foreign Ministry said Friday. Iran had accused the vessel, the MT Riah, of smuggling contraband fuel when it was detained, amid mounting tensions between the Iranian government and Britain and the...

The Hamas resistance group said Thursday it supported Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision to suspend all agreements signed with Israel. The Gaza-based group said in a written statement that the Ramallah-based government’s decision was “a step taken in right direction”. Abbas...

Tunisian Parliament speaker Mohamed Ennaceur was sworn in as interim president Thursday, hours after President Beji Caid Essebsi’s death, in a smooth transition of power in the birthplace of the Arab Spring. Under Tunisia’s constitution, the president should assume the presidency for 45 to...

The number of children killed in Syria’s Idlib province in the last month has exceeded the total for 2018, according to the latest report released by Save the Children and its partner Hurras Network.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un supervised the launch of "a new-type of tactical guided weapon" as a "solemn warning to South Korean military warmongers," state news wire KCNA said Friday. Kim "personally organized and guided" the firing of the "state-of-the-art weaponry system" on...

Confronting the first crisis of his premiership, Boris Johnson must decide what to do about the Stena Impero, the British oil tanker being held by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The regime in Tehran has named its price: the release of the Grace 1, an Iranian ship carrying oil to Syria that was...

A small wave of Syrians, who escaped to Turkey, recently began returning to terror-free zones in their homeland on Thursday.  About 130 Syrians, including women and children who were living in different provinces of Turkey, were sent by buses to northwestern Syria from southern Kilis...

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani agreed that it was time to "accelerate efforts" to end the war in Afghanistan, the State Department said Thursday. Pompeo and Ghani spoke by phone Wednesday, the State Department said. Pompeo assured Ghani that the...

It is an image that captures the horrors of Syria’s war in a single frame. A father climbs through the ruins of his home, destroyed in an airstrike just moments earlier, in a frantic effort to reach his children. Amjad al-Abdullah’s face is fixed in horror as his infant daughter Toqa...

The US Treasury Department on Thursday announced sanctions against three of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's stepsons, a Colombian businessman and six others for running a "corruption network" that profited from emergency food imports. The US has in recent months escalated sanctions...

 Saudi Arabia aims to raise the capacity of its east-west pipeline by 40 percent in two years so more of its oil exports can avoid passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the energy minister said Thursday. Khalid al-Falih also told Reuters that importers should, as a first immediate...

Up to 150 people are feared to have died in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya, while another 150 were rescued and are being returned to Libya, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said Thursday. Libya is a hub for migrants, many of whom try to reach Europe in unseaworthy boats....

When Syrian real estate worker Abu Ahmad was stopped by police in Istanbul he expected a ritual ticking-off for his expired documents, before being allowed on his way. Instead he says he was bundled into a bus packed with 50 men and deported to Syria. The 31-year-old was stopped as he set...

The speaker of Tunisia’s parliament, Mohamed Ennaceur, said on Thursday said he would be the country’s temporary president, in line with the constitution. In his speech on national television, Ennaceur also called for unity after the death of Tunisia’s 92-year-old president, Beji Caid...

Seven civilians were killed in a Russian airstrike Thursday on residential areas in de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria, according to civil defense agency White Helmets.  According to opposition's observatory, areas that fall within the de-escalation zones in the provinces of...

 Britain Thursday ordered its navy to escort U.K.-flagged ships through the Strait of Hormuz after Iranian soldiers seized a tanker in the flashpoint Gulf region. "The Royal Navy has been tasked to accompany British-flagged ships through the Strait of Hormuz, either individually or in...

Sudanese protest leaders and their rebel partners have ended their differences over a power-sharing deal signed with the country's military rulers, vowing to work jointly for peace, a leading protest group said Thursday. On July 17, the umbrella protest movement signed a power-sharing...

In a bustling district of the Lebanese capital, a government inspector issues a fine to the manager of a popular restaurant for hiring 17 Syrian refugees without work permits. In a country brimming with foreign workers, the labour ministry is clamping down on businesses employing foreigners...

The first shipment of Russian S-400 defense systems to Turkey has been completed and a second shipment is now being planned to arrive in Ankara, Turkish military officials said Thursday. Turkey began accepting delivery of the S-400s earlier this month in a move that has strained ties with...

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello has announced he will resign Aug. 2, conceding power after nearly two weeks of furious protests and political upheaval touched off by a leak of crude and insulting chat messages between him and his top advisers. A crowd of thousands outside the governor's...