A government official says Afghanistan is ready to seek United Nations sanctions against suspected terrorist networks and their supporters, a veiled reference to neighbor Pakistan - whom Kabul accuses of aiding Taliban insurgents, particularly the Haqqani network. At a conference Thursday,...

A Swedish citizen was sentenced to six months in jail Thursday for inciting people to finance ISIS through Facebook, a landmark case for the country. In a Facebook account linked to Ahmad Qadan, 34, a post written in Swedish and published on August 21, 2013 said: "Help us supply our brothers...

Hundreds of high-school students protested in Paris over police use of force Thursday, blocking the entrances to a dozen schools before heading to a banned street rally where riot police turned out in large numbers. The protest was the latest of several, many in northern suburbs of Paris,...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army announced on Thursday that they had taken full control of the northern town of Al-Bab from ISIS after 75 days of deadly fighting. "We are announcing Al-Bab completely liberated, and we are now clearing mines from the residential neighborhoods,"...

Rocket fire by Yemeni rebels killed a policeman and wounded a civilian on the Saudi side of the border, the civil defence department said late Wednesday. They were the latest casualties inside the kingdom since Saudi Arabia began leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in its...

Two Germans have been kidnapped while working at an archaeological site in northern Nigeria, police said Thursday. "I can confirm to you the abduction of two Germans at Jenjela village in southern Kaduna on Wednesday," state police spokesman Usman Aliyu told AFP. Aliyu said the men had...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Clashes have intensified Thursday in southern Daraa city between rebels and regime army that backed by a heavy airstrikes to capture a strategic neighborhood, activists said. The regime jets conducted 15 raids and dropped 6 barrel bombs on al-Manshiya neighborhood, the...

Syrian warplanes carried out air strikes on rebel-held areas in Deraa and Hama provinces and insurgents fired rockets at government targets on Thursday, the day peace talks are set to begin in Geneva, a war monitoring group said. However, the overall level of violence in western Syria was...

Fifty-six ISIS militants were killed by Turkey-backed forces around the Syrian town of al-Bab and by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in the latest operations Wednesday, the Turkish military said Thursday. Turkish artillery fire also hit 104 ISIS targets, including buildings and bombed...

Five European parliamentarians said Wednesday that Israeli authorities had prevented them from entering the Gaza Strip. “The refusal of access to Gaza by the Israeli authorities to the European Parliament on arbitrary grounds is unacceptable,” Cypriot MEP Neoklis Sylikiotis declared in a...

U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces closing in on the ISIS-held western half of Mosul stormed the city's main airport and a nearby military base Thursday, state television said. "Rapid response forces, federal police and anti-terrorism forces stormed Mosul airport... and an al-Ghazlani...

Syria's main opposition delegation on Wednesday asked for direct discussions with government representatives at the Geneva IV peace talks aimed at ending the six-year conflict by reaching a political solution. "We want direct talks, direct negotiation. It is enough for Syrian people. l hope...

The chairman of the Senate Armed Service committee traveled covertly last week to northern Syria where he met with U.S. forces engaged in the counter-Daesh campaign, his office confirmed Wednesday. A spokeswoman for Sen. John McCain confirmed the trip to Anadolu Agency. “Senator McCain...

China's commerce minister decided at the last minute to postpone an official trip to the Philippines on Thursday to sign about 40 joint projects worth billions of dollars, sources at the Philippines trade and finance ministries said. It was not immediately clear what was behind the abrupt...

Conservatives are all smiles this week at an annual convention in Washington, celebrating President Donald Trump's win, but beneath the surface lurk tensions central to how Republicans will govern in the next two years and the 2018 election outlook. At the four-day Conservative Political...

(The Sun)- AN Irish soldier went to fight in Syria with Islamic State’s “worst nightmare” after telling his bosses he was going to travel the world, it is alleged. The Dublin-based private is being investigated by the Defence Forces for joining the Kurdish YPG militia. It is...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The US-backed Syria democratic Forces took new array of villages from ISIS in the northern countryside of Raqqa on Thursday, pressing rapid advances the will encircle the group’s de facto capital in very few days. The Kurdish-led SDF seized control of  15  villages...

Astronomers have found a nearby solar system with seven Earth-sized planets, three of which circle their parent star at the right distance for liquid surface water, bolstering the prospect of discovering extraterrestrial life, research published on Wednesday showed. The star, known as...

Turkey's defense minister said on Wednesday there had been a slight change in the stance of the United States toward an operation on Syria's Raqqa and the role of a Syrian Kurdish militia as a result of Turkey's persistence on the matter. In an interview with broadcaster NTV, Defence...

Russia has called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to stop his bombing campaign while peace talks take place this week, but a political breakthrough on the six-year war remains unlikely, the UN's envoy said Wednesday. Staffan de Mistura's comments came on the eve of a new round of talks in...