Iraq's Salahaddin province declared three days of mourning from Sunday over a deadly attack blamed on the Islamic State group, as some criticised authorities for failing to fight back jihadists. Late Saturday, a roadside bomb hit a civilian car on an open road near Mt. Makhoul, about 200...

Ethiopia’s army plans to surround the rebel-held capital of Tigray region with tanks and may use artillery on the city to try to end a nearly three-week war, a military spokesman said on Sunday, urging civilians to save themselves. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which is...

France’s foreign ministry has demanded Pakistan authorities withdraw comments made by one of its ministers that President Emmanuel Macon was treating Muslims like Nazis had treated Jews in World War 2. The comments posted on Twitter by Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen...

G20 leaders will pledge to "spare no effort" in ensuring the equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccines worldwide and reaffirm support for debt-laden poor countries, according to a draft communique seen by AFP Sunday. The leaders also struck a unified tone on supporting "multilateral"...

Iran on Sunday vowed to defeat any Israeli attempt to harm its role in Syria, saying the era of "hit and run" attacks by Israel there was over, days after Israel carried out air strikes on Syrian army and Iranian paramilitary targets in the country. Israel, which views Tehran as its biggest...

A World Health Organization (WHO) special COVID-19 envoy predicted a third wave of the pandemic in Europe in early 2021, if governments repeat what he said was a failure to do what was needed to prevent the second wave of infections. “They missed building up the necessary infrastructure...

Polls opened in Burkina Faso on Sunday for a presidential election dominated by jihadist violence, which has cost over 2,000 lives this year and will prevent voting in hundreds of villages. President Roch Kaboré is seeking a second five-year term, campaigning on achievements including free...

Israel said Sunday its military struck Hamas targets in Gaza in response to a rocket attack launched from the Palestinian enclave. The Israeli air force struck two rocket ammunition manufacturing sites, a military compound and "underground infrastructures", the Israel Defence Forces said....

Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh vowed Sunday to track down those responsible for a rocket attack on the capital that killed at least 10 people, even as the Islamic State group claimed to have fired the salvo. The rockets struck several densely populated districts of Kabul Saturday --...

A patched-up Real Madrid had to hang on for a 1-1 draw at in-form Villarreal Saturday, handing Barcelona and Atletico Madrid the chance to capitalize in La Liga. Barca and Atletico face each other at the Wanda Metropolitano later on Saturday, when victory for either side would now prove...

Leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies on Sunday will pledge to pay for a fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, drugs and tests around the world so that poorer countries are not left out, and to extend debt relief to them, a draft G20 communique showed. "We will spare no...

Syrian activist Abdullah Taouma has been deported Turkey from Greece after being arrested beaten by Greek border guards  along with other refugees,  despite his severe injuries in the war. According to their statement, Taouma “would not have thrown himself into Greek...

Bashar al Assad has assigned Maj. General Abdulsalam Mahmoud, deputy director of the Air Force Intelligence Department, to handle the security portfolio in southern Syria. According to a well-informed source, the appointment of Mahmoud, a Shiite officer who had secretly visited Tehran...

Exactly one week since the second official lockdown began, Lebanon confirmed 1,628 new coronavirus cases and 10 deaths Saturday, bringing the total number of registered cases in the country to 115,242.

 Hundreds of Danish farmers and mink breeders demonstrated with tractors Saturday against a government decision to cull their minks to halt the spread of a coronavirus variant. More than 500 tractors, many decked out with the Danish flag, drove past the government's offices and...

Guatemala's vice president on Friday said he had asked President Alejandro Giammattei to resign with him "for the good of the country", following the passage of a budget that has sparked outrage in the impoverished Central American nation. "For the good of the country, I asked him that...

Saudi Arabia hosts the G20 summit Saturday in a first for an Arab nation, with the downsized virtual forum dominated by efforts to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and a crippling economic crisis. The two-day meeting of the world's wealthiest nations comes as President Donald Trump...

President Donald Trump sought to leverage the power of the Oval Office on Friday in an extraordinary attempt to block President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, but his pleas to Michigan lawmakers to overturn the will of their constituents appeared to have left them unswayed. Trump summoned a...

The European Union acknowledged on Friday that it lacks the capabilities to meet its goal - pushed most strongly by its biggest members - to become a standalone military power able to help NATO or deploy troops rapidly to regional crises. Seeking to address major shortfalls, the EU’s first...

After months of turmoil and over 42,000 deaths, Spain appeared to see light at the end of the tunnel Friday, announcing ambitious plans to vaccinate much of the population by mid-2021. "Our forecasts, under almost any reasonable scenario, show that a very substantial part of the Spanish...