Two civilians were killed and four others injured in a fresh round of clashes between Pakistani and Indian troops on the disputed Kashmir border on Monday, Pakistani army said. Indian troops resorted to an unprovoked fire targeting civilians in the Chakothi area of Pakistan-administered...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday backed key European reform ideas from her presumptive heir, including a single EU seat in the UN Security Council and a joint aircraft carrier. Merkel was asked about an essay by her anointed successor, CDU party chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer,...

More than 1,000 judges said they would refuse to oversee Algeria’s election if President Abdelaziz Bouteflika contests it, and clerics defied any state role in their work, in a double rebuff to an ailing leader fighting for his political survival. Bouteflika, who returned to Algeria on...

Floods caused by torrential rains in and around Brazil's financial hub Sao Paulo killed seven people overnight, firefighters said Monday. "We regret the unfortunate deaths of seven people," the fire service said on Twitter, adding that four others were injured. Four of the dead and two...

The US Treasury slapped sanctions Monday on a Russia-based bank partly owned by Venezuela for its support for the government of embattled President Nicolas Maduro and the sanctioned state oil company PDVSA. The sanctions targeted Moscow-based Evrofinance Mosnarbank, which when founded in...

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) killed dozens in continuing clashes with Islamic State fighters at Baghouz in eastern Syria and captured a jihadist arms dump, said Mustafa Bali, an SDF spokesman, on Twitter. Four Islamic State fighters attempted suicide attacks and one SDF...

Sudan’s parliament voted on Monday to shorten from one year to six months a state of emergency declared by President Omar al-Bashir last month in response to widespread protests. Parliament can, however, renew the measure. Bashir declared the nationwide state of emergency, the first...

Britain will face EU demands for billions of euros in cash if it fails to strike a Brexit deal, Brussels officials and diplomats said on Monday after talks with London stalled 18 days before it is due to leave the bloc. Prime Minister Theresa May agreed a withdrawal treaty last year under...

Much of Venezuela, including parts of the capital Caracas, remained without power on Monday for a fifth day, crimping vital oil exports and leaving people struggling to obtain water and food. President Nicolas Maduro, who has blamed the unprecedented blackout on sabotage by the United...

U.S.-backed fighters are moving slowly into Islamic State’s final pocket in eastern Syria to avoid losses in the face of sniper fire and landmines, a commanders said on Monday. Warplanes flew above Baghouz, a cluster of houses on the banks of the Euphrates at the Iraqi border where Islamic...

A Palestinian wounded last month during clashes on the Israel-Gaza border succumbed to his wounds on Monday, the health ministry in the Palestinian enclave said. A spokesman for the ministry said in a statement "Bissam Safi, 22, died this morning". He said he had been hit in the head...

Kurdish-led forces pounded the last scrap of land held by the Islamic State group Monday, a scattering of tents and destroyed buildings in a remote eastern Syrian hamlet. The jihadists once ruled over millions in a swathe of Syria and Iraq, but they have since lost all that territory except...

Furious Venezuelans lined up to buy water and fuel on Sunday as the country endured a fourth day of a nationwide blackout that has left already-scarce food rotting in shops, homes suffering for lack of water and cell phones without reception. Authorities have managed to provide only patchy...

U.S.-backed Syrian forces launched an assault against the final Islamic State enclave in eastern Syria on Sunday, aiming to wipe out the last vestige of its self-declared “caliphate” that once spanned a third of Iraq and Syria. While the Baghouz enclave represents the last shred of...

Four civilians were killed in attacks by regime forces and Iran-backed terror groups on residential areas in Syria's northwestern Idlib late Sunday, according to the White Helmets civil defense agency. Mustafa Haj Yusuf, head of the White Helmets in Idlib, told Anadolu Agency that 51...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sharply criticised U.S. military intervention in the Middle East on Monday as he began a first official visit to Iraq, aimed at shoring up Tehran’s influence and expanding trade ties. The visit also sends a strong message to Washington and its regional...

Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli declared a state of emergency and mobilization in the north-central city of Sirte. The decision came after forces of east Libya-based commander Khalifa Haftar, known as the Libyan National Army, reportedly move forward to the...

Asian markets were mixed Monday as bargain-buying from last week's sharp losses was offset by a weak US jobs report and ongoing concerns about the global economy. Investors ran for the hills Friday after the European Central Bank slashed its growth and inflation forecasts, and China...

Investigators probing the deadly crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 that plunged into a field in a ball of flames were to comb the wreckage Monday for clues to the disaster's cause, as operators around the world began grounding their fleets. The brand new MAX 8 plane -- one of...

US-backed forces said Sunday time was up for Islamic State group jihadists hunkering down in their eastern Syrian holdout and an assault was imminent. "The timeline (we gave) ISIS to surrender themselves is over," Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Mustefa Bali said on Twitter, using...