A second hostage has died after being abducted by Daesh (ISIS) group in southern Syria last month, a journalist in the area and an activist group said Thursday. The 65-year-old Syrian woman was among more than 30 people seized by Daesh two weeks ago as it unleashed a violent attack...

Syrian activists say regime military helicopters have dropped leaflets over parts of the northwestern rebel-held province of Idlib, calling on residents to reconcile with the regime. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights posted a copy of the leaflets. They say the Syrian...

Dozens of bodies of Afghan soldiers have been found in a military base stormed last week by Taliban militants in the embattled southern province of Uruzgan, officials said on Thursday. The attack in Chinartu district last Friday underlined the ferocity of fighting in many areas of...

The British Museum said Thursday it is returning to Iraq a collection of 5,000-year-old looted antiquities seized from a London dealer shortly after the US-led invasion in 2003. The eight objects were confiscated by police in May that year after the dealer failed to produce proof of...

Estonia says it favors an idea floated by neighboring Finland to abolish the practice of advancing the clock an hour during the summer within the European Union but is undecided yet which time it prefers to stay in permanently. Economics Minister Kadri Simson said Thursday the practice...

Polish police say they are evacuating more than 2,000 people after the discovery of an unexploded World War II-era bomb weighing some 250 kilograms. The bomb was discovered in the Oder River in the town of Glogow, an area of southwestern Poland that was part of Germany during the war....

Russia, Iran and Turkey told a meeting of the Syria humanitarian taskforce on Thursday that they would do their utmost to avoid a battle that would threaten millions of civilians in rebel-held Idlib, U.N. humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said. He estimated that there were 4 million or...

Syrian regime forces shelled rebel and militant positions in the northwestern province of Idlib on Thursday, an activist group said, as reinforcements arrived ahead of an expected assault. The province is the largest piece of territory still in rebel hands, and President Bashar al-Assad...

Turkey's state-run news agency says a boat carrying migrants has capsized off the Turkish coast in the Aegean sea, killing seven children and two women. Anadolu Agency says four other migrants were rescued from the rubber boat that sank early on Thursday off the resort of Kusadasi....

Fragments from a missile launched into Saudi Arabia from Yemen by Houthi forces killed one civilian and wounded 11, Saudi state media said on Thursday. The Houthis, an Iran-allied group that controls much of Yemen including the capital Sanaa, said it fired a missile at the Jizan...

Russia's embassy in the United States on Thursday called new U.S. sanctions draconian and said the reason for the new restrictions -- allegations it poisoned a former spy and his daughter in Britain -- were far-fetched. The United States on Wednesday announced it would impose fresh...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told North Korea's foreign minister that the United States cannot be trusted, Tehran's state media said, as the United States seeks a deal to rein in the North's nuclear and missile programes. Iran dismissed a last-minute offer from Washington for talks...

Nyoman Sidekarya, chief of the provincial search and rescue agency that covers the Indonesian island of Lombok, tells The Associated Press that the death toll from the earthquake that hit the island on Sunday is now 227. Several agencies have been releasing higher death toll figures...

A North Carolina man who declared support for Islamic State online will spend two years in prison and be deported. A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced Houcine Ghoul to 24 months in prison for immigration fraud and false statements on his tax returns. After his sentence, the Tunisian...

Yemen's Houthi militia said via its al-Masirah TV on Wednesday that it fired a missile at the Jizan Industrial City in southern Saudi Arabia. Saudi state news channel al-Ekhbariya reported that the kingdom's air defense forces intercepted the missile. There were no immediate reports of damage...

Canadian health authorities said Wednesday that hundreds of Saudi doctors and residents who make up the largest segment of foreign medical trainees in the country will remain in Canada until the end of the month, giving hospitals a few weeks to cope with the sudden staffing loss caused by a...

Libya's sovereign wealth fund has decided to move from its main office in Tripoli due to security breaches after a number of staff were threatened or abducted, it said in statement on Wednesday. The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), which holds about $66 billion-worth of mostly frozen...

German authorities say they have arrested a German man who is accused of spying on a mosque for Jordan. Federal prosecutors said the 33-year-old, identified only as Alexander B. because of German privacy rules, was arrested Tuesday. They didn't specify where. The prosecutors alleged...

Asma Assad has begun treatment for breast cancer, the presidency said Wednesday, wishing her a speedy recovery. Such public announcements are uncommon in the Arab world, where cancer is considered a taboo. The presidency posted on its Facebook page a photo of  Bashar Assad...

The German government wants to tighten oversight of investments from outside the European Union in local companies that specialize in defense and security technologies, an economy ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday. New rules under consideration would give the government powers to...