Turkey-backed rebels have largely taken control of the Syrian town of al-Bab from Islamic State militants, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday. "Al-Bab has been largely taken under control. Our aim is to prevent the opening of corridors from territories controlled by...

Eight people have been killed in a coal mine blast in China’s central Hunan province, the state media reported Tuesday. Three people are still missing following the blast at 1:37 am local time (1737GMT) at Zubao Coal Mine in Lianyuan City, Xinhua said. "A total of 29 people were working...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to press Tunisia's Prime Minister Youssef Chahed to speed up the return of rejected asylum seekers when he visits Berlin Tuesday. The issue has become more urgent for Germany since the deadly jihadist attack on a Berlin Christmas market last...

The top U.N. official in Damascus has warned of a "looming humanitarian catastrophe" in four besieged towns in Syria, calling for immediate access to deliver aid to some 60,000 residents. In a statement late Monday, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Ali al-Za'atari, warned of dire...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 17 people, 12 of them from the same family, were killed on Monday in suspected Turkish airstrikes on al-Bab city, the Islamic State’s last stronghold in northern Aleppo province, activists said as Turkey says al-Bab almost taken. Meanwhile, Turkey-backed Free Syrian...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, preparing for his first meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, will work with advisers on Tuesday to align Israeli and U.S. thinking on the Middle East and ensure "no gaps" remain. Staff have cleared most of Tuesday for discussions with...

From requiring constitutional changes to pushing for unity in the divided country and reshaping the royal household, Thailand's new king is putting an assertive stamp on his rule. King Maha Vajiralongkorn has made it clear to the generals running the country that he will not just sit in the...

The U.N. Security Council denounced North Korea's weekend missile launch, urging members to "redouble efforts" to enforce sanctions against the reclusive state, but gave no indications of any action it might take. Pyongyang's test of the intermediate-range ballistic missile on Sunday was its...

President Donald Trump's embattled national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned late Monday night, following reports that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other officials about his contacts with Russia. His departure upends Trump's senior team after less than one month in...

(CNN)-A new report suggests that Russia and Syria deliberately targeted civilian-populated areas of Aleppo, including hospitals, in their joint aerial bombing campaign. Evidence presented in the report, released on Monday by the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based policy research center,...

Three left-leaning German parties would now win enough combined support to oust Chancellor Angela Merkel in September's election, according to an opinion poll by the INSA institute to be published in Bild newspaper on Tuesday. The newspaper said in advance of the report that it was the first...

Apple (AAPL.O) shares cruised to a record-high close Monday, helping catapult the S&P 500 stock index over the $20 trillion mark in what amounts to a victory for plain-vanilla mutual funds over a bevy of hedge fund managers who recently backed away from the iPhone maker. The largest...

Glossing over their vast differences in policy, President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prioritized on Monday the robust economic relationship shared by the North American neighbors. Speaking at a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House, Trump...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A rebel group, mostly tribesmen, took two ISIS strongholds in the Syrian desert east of the capital, killing 8 militants, commander told Zaman al-Wasl Monday. Younes al-Salameh, media in-charge of Asoud al-Sharqiya, or Linos of The East, said his group had captured al-Dayyatha...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Asayish militia, armed wing of Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) announced on Monday formation of Raqqa Operations Office during a meeting held in Ras al-Ayn in Hasaka whereas ISIS captured 4 villages following clashes with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) north of al-Tabaqa...

Syria's regime is ready to release detainees in exchange for hostages held by rebels, the official SANA news agency reported Monday, ahead of peace talks in the Kazakh capital. "The government is ready... as part of efforts towards the next meeting in Astana to exchange detainees for men,...

Top White House aide Michael Flynn was on the hot seat Monday, his job apparently on the line over disclosures he may have misled Vice President Mike Pence about his discussions with Russia's ambassador. President Donald Trump has so far been uncharacteristically silent on Flynn's fate,...

Syrian rebels cast doubt on Monday that they would attend Russian-backed peace talks in Kazakhstan this week, accusing Moscow of failing to get Damascus to fully comply with a ceasefire deal or release any prisoners. The Kazakh government said on Saturday it had invited the government and...

Syrian government forces used chemical weapons in opposition-controlled parts of Aleppo during battles to retake the city late last year, Human Rights Watch said in a report published on Monday. The findings add to mounting evidence of the use of banned chemical weapons in the six-year-old...

An exiled advocate for China's ethnic Uighur minority said Monday that some of the group were fighting and dying in Syria -- including for ISIS -- though she claimed they had been duped into doing so. Rebiya Kadeer, who heads the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), said that among the thousands of...