The United States applies to seize an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar, halting its expected release at the last minute and preventing a possible swap for British-flagged tanker held by Iran.

The United Nations yesterday said it was gravely concerned about reports indicating 11 civilians had been killed in an Afghan security force operation in an eastern province near the border with Pakistan. The government’s main security agency, the National Directorate of

Clashes between regime loyalists and insurgents in rebel-held northwest Syria killed 59 combatants on Tuesday, a war monitor said. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a jihadist group led by Syria’s former al-Qaeda affiliate, has since January controlled most of Idlib province

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has held talks with a senior Yemeni rebel official just days after the long-running

The Israeli army said its troops shot dead four heavily armed Palestinians on the Gaza border early yesterday, alleging one of them had managed to cross and throw a grenade at soldiers.

The Taliban warned Afghans to keep away from election rallies and ordered its fighters to “stand against” the planned September vote.

President Hassan Rouhani yesterday said that Iran favours talks with the US if it lifts sanctions against the Islamic republic, despite his

The Philippines yesterday stood firm on its ban on the world’s first dengue vaccine while declaring a nationwide epidemic from the

The US is acting alone against Tehran and its allies are too “ashamed” to join its forces in the Gulf, Iran’s top diplomat said yesterday,

Saudi air defences intercepted Yemeni rebel drones targeting civilian airports yesterday, a Riyadh-led military coalition said, as the

A new locally-developed app helps Palestinian drivers in the occupied West Bank negotiate traffic at Israeli military checkpoints and

Tens of millions of people on Indonesia’s heavily populated Java island were affected by a widespread electricity outage yesterday after the state utility

The death toll from the capsize of three Philippine ferries in bad weather rose to 31 yesterday as rescuers found more bodies, a coast

Iran has seized a foreign tanker in the Gulf, state media said yesterday, in what would be the third such seizure in a month amid

Four people died and several were injured after a powerful undersea earthquake rocked Indonesia’s heavily populated Java island,

Washington is hoping for a breakthrough as talks between the US and the Taliban resumed in Doha yesterday in a bid to end 18 years

Saudi Arabia will allow women to travel abroad without approval from a male “guardian”, the government said Thursday, ending a restriction that drew international censure and prompted extreme attempts to flee the kingdom.

Al-Qaeda gunmen killed 19 soldiers in an attack on an army base in southern Yemen yesterday, security officials said, a day after deadly assaults by rebels and a jihadist bomber.

A Palestinian crossed into Israel from Gaza and shot at troops, setting off a firefight in which he was killed and three Israeli soldiers were

Separate attacks by Shia rebels and a jihadist suicide bomber killed at least 49 people in Yemen’s government-held second city Aden yesterday, many of them newly trained police cadets.