Israel's attorney general has given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu until next week to confirm he wants a formal hearing to defend himself before corruption charges are filed against him. In a letter made public Sunday evening Avichai Mandelblit told Netanyahu's lawyers that if he wants...

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday announced a ban on all face coverings, a week after Islamist militants carried out coordinated suicide bombings at churches and hotels that killed 253 people. Sirisena said he was using emergency powers to ban any form of face covering in...

US sanctions on Iran, rising unrest in the Middle East and North Africa and oil price volatility are dragging regional economic growth, the International Monetary Fund said Monday. The IMF warned in a bi-annual economic outlook report that prospects for the region are "clouded by elevated...

European leaders will try to bring bitter foes Serbia and Kosovo back to the negotiating table at a regional summit in Berlin on Monday, hoping to reboot a dialogue over one of the Balkans' thorniest disputes. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are hosting...

Forces backing Libya's internationally recognised government fought house-to-house battles with troops loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar in southern parts of the capital Tripoli on Sunday and appeared to be gaining ground. Government soldiers, some in jeans and t-shirts, took cover by...

Spain’s incumbent Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez won the parliamentary elections Sunday without securing a majority to form a government. With 99% of the ballots counted, unofficial results show the Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) won 123 seats in the 350-seat parliament while their...

 Eastern Libyan state oil firm AGOCO, a subsidiary of state oil firm NOC, is producing 304,000 barrels a day of oil, its chairman told Reuters Sunday. Mohamed Shatwan said production would rise to 350,000 bpd after new projects such as improving power supply had been completed, a plan...

Barcelona clinched this season's Spanish La Liga title over Saturday's 1-0 win against Levante on Friday night.  With three matches to spare in the Spanish league, Barcelona won their 26th league title in the club history following the victory at Nou Camp, Barca's home ground. The...

Children born to Yazidi women as a result of rape by Daesh (ISIS) fighters will not be permitted to join the community in northern Iraq, the faith's Supreme Spiritual Council said. The Yazidi community once numbered around 500,000 members in the mountainous Sinjar region of northwest Iraq,...

There will be no enduring peace in Afghanistan unless the Taliban adapt to the changes that have swept the country since they were ousted in 2001, a U.S. diplomat said Sunday. Special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who is leading U.S. efforts to forge a peace deal with the Taliban, made the...

A South African charity said Sunday it had received video evidence that a freelance photographer kidnapped in Syria was alive, over two years after he was captured. Shiraaz Mahomed was kidnapped on January 10, 2017, travelling to the Turkish border from a hospital supported by the Gift of...

Pep Guardiola declared Sergio Aguero "a legend" after the forward became the first player since Thierry Henry to score 20 Premier League goals in five successive seasons. Aguero struck in the 63rd minute to secure Manchester City's 1-0 win away to Burnley at Turf Moor on Sunday that saw the...

The health of deposed and jailed President Omar al-Bashir is stable, a former Sudanese official said Sunday. "Bashir is currently in stable health condition," a source, who was an official of al-Bashir regime, told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal. The...

Iraq's Foreign Ministry on Sunday demanded the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to delete a Facebook post in which it said "corruption is rife in all parts of the Iranian regime". On Thursday, the U.S. Embassy said that corruption in Iran starts from the top of the ruling regime, putting an estimate...

At least five civilians have been killed in an airstrike on residential areas in Syria’s northern de-escalation zones, local sources said on Sunday.  The sources said an unidentified warplane raided late Saturday Qalaat Al-Madiq town and Al-Hawash village, both located in the western...

U.S. President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century”, a backchannel plan to reach peace between the Palestinians and Israel, is nothing but a mere “hoax”, experts believe.   Since taking office in early 2017, Trump has been formulating the plan, along with senior adviser (and...

China on Sunday warned Britain not to discriminate against companies involved in developing the 5G network and to resist pressure from other countries over whether it should work with Huawei Technologies. Huawei, the world’s biggest telecoms equipment maker, is under intense scrutiny after...

Tens of thousands of people marched on Hong Kong’s parliament on Sunday to demand the scrapping of proposed extradition rules that would allow people to be sent to mainland China for trial - a move which some fear puts the city’s core freedoms at risk. Opponents of the proposal fear further...

Twelve Yemeni civilians, including five children, were killed in two attacks in the past two days, pro-government and rebel forces said Sunday, trading accusations over the targeting of non-combatants. A mother and her four children were killed Sunday in a Houthi rebel attack in...

Israel released two prisoners on Sunday, sending them back to Syria in what Damascus described as Russian-mediated reciprocation for the repatriation of the body of a long-missing Israeli soldier. Russia, a key Damascus ally, this month handed Israel the remains and personal effects of...