Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for a high turnout in a February parliamentary election, the YJC news site, which is affiliated with Iran’s state TV, reported on Wednesday. “Any person who has an affinity for Iran and its security must take part in the election,”...

Oil prices jumped by more than 3% on Wednesday on reports that scientists have developed an effective drug against the fast-spreading coronavirus that has weighed heavily on global economic activity. News that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its producer allies are...

Forces loyal to renegade commander Khalifa Haftar killed at least three civilians, including two children, the UN-recognized government in Libya said Wednesday. Haftar’s militia targeted residential areas in southern Tripoli, according to forces loyal to Libya’s Government of National...

Syrian regime forces in Idlib must pull back behind a line of Turkish observation posts by the end of this month, Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday, warning that if they did not withdraw Turkey would drive them back. Speaking two days after eight Turkish military personnel...

The United States has halted a secretive military intelligence cooperation program with Turkey that for years helped Ankara target Kurdish PKK militants, four U.S. officials told Reuters. The U.S. decision to indefinitely suspend the program, which has not been previously reported, was made...

The Daesh group has maintained its capabilities in Syria despite the death of its chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an independent U.S. government watchdog said in a report on Tuesday. An inspector general from the Department of Defense also said that a possible departure of American troops from...

Four months after Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives launched a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine, the Senate is poised Wednesday to acquit him on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Trump, a Republican and only the...

Syrian regime forces Wednesday pressed on with their offensive in the northwest that has displaced half a million people, despite heightened tensions with Turkey. Intensive aerial bombardment and ground fighting in the jihadist-dominated Idlib region since December have killed almost 300...

Israeli aircraft struck Hamas positions in Gaza early Wednesday, the military said, after Palestinians in the enclave launched projectiles and explosive balloons at the Jewish state. The "fighter jets targeted Hamas terror targets in the southern Gaza Strip" including "a weapons...

Deaths from a new virus rose to 490 in mainland China on Wednesday while new cases on a Japanese cruise ship, in Hong Kong and in other places showed the increasing spread of the outbreak and renewed attention toward containing it. Ten people from the cruise ship tested positive and were...

The chief executive officer of the Tokyo Olympics admitted Wednesday that organizers are "extremely worried" about the possible effect of the deadly new coronavirus on this summer's Games. Toshiro Muto said he hoped the outbreak in China would be quickly contained to restore confidence in...

She treated thousands of people in an underground hospital in a besieged rebel enclave in Syria. Now Amani Ballour, the doctor at the centre of the Oscar-nominated documentary "The Cave", is stepping out into the limelight. But the 32-year-old paediatrician, who is still haunted by the...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday renewed his vow to negotiate a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying he had no desire to kill "hundreds of thousands" in unending fighting. In one of his few foreign-policy points in a highly partisan State of the Union address to Congress, Trump...

US President Donald Trump vowed Tuesday to "smash" the rule of Venezuela’s leftist leader Nicolas Maduro as he welcomed his rival to his annual address before Congress. In an extraordinarily direct sign of support, Trump invited Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido -- considered...

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Tuesday for an end to fighting between Turkey and Syria in Syria's opposition-held province of Idlib on Tuesday. Guterres told reporters it was an "extremely worrying" escalation in the conflict that the Turkish army and the Syrian army were now...

The United Nations says it has received “alarming messages” from its staff in Idlib, Syria, as regime attacks continue unabated in the country’s northwest. “There are no safe spaces in Idlib; bombs are falling anywhere and everywhere. Even those fleeing the frontlines are not safe and there...

The ongoing attacks by Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and its allies forced some 40,000 civilians to flee their homes in Idlib, a de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria, over the last two days, according to sources on the ground. Forced migration gained momentum from central areas of...

The European Union on Tuesday rejected the U.S.’ so-called Middle East peace plan, saying the initiative “departs from internationally agreed parameters” for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “To build a just and lasting peace, the unresolved final status issues...

At least one student was killed and seven others injured in a rocket attack on Afrin city in northern Aleppo province by the Kurdish People's Protection Units, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. The Kurdish militia has targeted two schools and a mosque in Afrin’s city center...

Following an Assad regime attack on Turkish troops, Turkey will keep its military observation posts in Idlib, Syria, along with necessary fortifications, because they play a vital role, said the president on Tuesday. The deadly attack was very clear violation of the Idlib agreement and so...