German Chancellor Angela Merkel has landed in the United Arab Emirates, her second stop on a two-nation Gulf tour taking in the Arab world's largest economies. The German leader was greeted by Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan upon her arrival on Monday in the capital, Abu...

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein voiced deep concern on Monday at mass arrests and sackings and renewal of the state of emergency in Turkey, saying terror should not be tackled at the expense of human rights. "It is highly unlikely that the suspensions and...

Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, often makes statements at odds with the Trump administration's foreign policy stances. At her Senate confirmation hearing, Haley accused Russia of being complicit of war crimes in Syria - going against the president-elect's talk of warmer...

Oil prices edged down on Monday as a disappointing Chinese economic survey clouded the outlook for demand, although talk that OPEC-led crude output cuts could be extended continued to offer support. NYMEX crude for June delivery CLc1 was down 12 cents at $49.21 a barrel by 0619 GMT....

The U.S.-led coalition has come under increasing scrutiny by monitoring groups regarding civilian casualties in the fight against ISIS in Iraq, a turn that is worrying some in the country's political leadership who fear the destruction and loss of life could complicate hopes of reconciliation...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Spokesman for powerful Jaish al-Islam group said no orders give to open fire on protests in the Eastern Ghouta as death toll of the 4-day fighting with rival Islamist group topped 120, according to Zaman’s reporter. Local activists surfaced on social media footage showing...

( The Guardian )- In the aftermath of Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish positions in north-east Syria last week, US troops escorted an ageing militant through an angry crowd to inspect the damage. As a senior leader of the Kurdish militant organisation the PKK, Abdi Ferhad Şahin, known as Şahin...

( The Guardian )- Near Aleppo’s ancient citadel, the scent of rose and jasmine rises from the rubble of a half-destroyed shop covered in bullet holes. Months ago it was a battleground, but for years before that it was a perfumery, and war has not changed its smell. For centuries Aleppo’s...

( The New Arab )- As the Islamic State group comes under siege in Iraq and Syria as many as 300 British nationals may still be fighting with the extremist group, according to a recent defector, currently in Turkish police custody. Stefan Aristidou, 23, from Enfield was arrested in the...

May Day protests risk being rough in Venezuela on Monday as it marks one month since deadly clashes erupted in a political crisis with no end in sight. Protesters took to the streets from April 1 to demand elections after the courts tried to strengthen President Nicolas Maduro's grip on...

With a week to go before France's presidential election runoff, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen stayed on the offensive against frontrunner Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, trying to close a 19-point gap in the polls. After a surprise visit to a controversial aluminium plant in the southern town of...

By Hussain Nadim ( The Express Tribune )- If it was truly about Syria or defeating the ISIS, the mess that we see in the region today would have been solved relatively easier. The unfolding of recent events, including the US strategic bombing to ‘save’ human lives, is a classic Cold War era...

At least 352 civilians have been killed in U.S.-led strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria since the operation began in 2014, the U.S. military said in a statement on Sunday. The Combined Joint Task Force, in its monthly assessment of civilian casualties from the U.S....

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- Hama Governorate Council, in statement issued Saturday, said  the northern countryside said is a stricken area, calling on local and the International community to stand with the displaced people who endured to brutal and deadly aerial campaign for over 60 days. The...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The seventh batch of al-Waer neighborhood’s evacuees on Sunday left the last rebel stronghold in Homs city, heading northern Idlib province due to an evacuation deal forced at least 12200 people to leave Homs in weekly batches, local reporter said. The buses loaded with 2200...

 (Zaman Al Wasl) A US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance is advancing against ISIS in the key town of Tabqa near the extremist bastion of Raqqa in northern Syria, a monitor said Sunday. The Syrian Democratic Forces now control at least 40 percent of the town of Tabqa, and more than half of its...

An Israeli minister said Sunday that 300 Palestinians have agreed to end an almost two-week-old hunger strike launched in protest at the conditions of their detention. The Palestinians, for their part, said 1,500 prisoners were keeping up their fast in Israeli jails. Three hundred hunger...

US President Donald Trump offered some backhanded praise for North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, calling him "a pretty smart cookie" in a television interview that aired Sunday. Trump's almost admiring remarks came amid soaring tensions with North Korea over its missile and nuclear programs,...

( The Guardian )- The Iranian founder of a popular Farsi-language satellite television network has been shot dead in Istanbul alongside a Kuwaiti business partner, according to Turkish media, months after reportedly being convicted of spreading “propaganda” against the Islamic Republic. GEM...

Tunisian police killed on Islamist militant and another died when he detonated his suicide explosive belt during an exchange of gunfire after a raid in the central city of Sidi Bouzid, a government official said on Sunday. Tunisia's armed forces have been cracking down militants allied to...