The UN special envoy for Syria faced an uphill task in Geneva yesterday to get talks to end the brutal civil war off the ground, as the

Syria's main opposition group met UN mediator Staffan de Mistura for the first time yesterday, but the peace process ran straight into

Bombings claimed by the Islamic State group kill more than 50 people and wound dozens near a revered Shiite shrine outside the Syrian capital Damascus.

The first Syria peace talks for two years were a "complete failure" before they started yesterday, a Western diplomat said, after the

Two people were killed and seven others are wounded in a bomb and gun attack on a mosque in the east of Saudi Arabia, the Interior Ministry says on Friday.

The UN yesterday said that there was no postponement of Syria peace talks due to start Friday in Switzerland, despite uncertainty around whether the main opposition umbrella group would attend.

The US is weighing potential military options in Libya as Islamic State jihadists expand their influence in the north African nation roiled by political instability, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.

An Afghan policeman, suspected of collaborating with insurgents, drug and then shoot dead 10 of his colleagues in the southern province of Uruzgan, officials say.

Syria's leading opposition coalition is to decide today whether to attend peace talks in Geneva, following a tense meeting with US

In 2011, activist Esraa Abdel-Fattah helped ignite revolution on the streets of Egypt and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Five years after the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, she is shunned or insulted by Egyptians on those same streets.

Pro-government forces overran the last major rebel-held town in Syria's coastal Latakia province yesterday, as the United Nations

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid yesterday pleaded for people to be "patient" after a wave of protests against poverty and

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani yesterday hailed a "new chapter" in relations with China after talks with President Xi Jinping, who is

Oil facilities in northern Libya were set ablaze Thursday as the Islamic State group launched fresh attacks to seize key export terminals, renewing concerns over the jihadists' growing influence.

Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday signed a slew of trade deals with Egypt's leader as part of a regional tour aimed at bolstering Beijing's economic ties and clout in the Middle East.

Gunmen have killed five Egyptian policemen at a checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said yesterday, in the latest attack claimed by the

The United Nations has said it was waiting for regional powers spearheading the Syria peace process to agree on who will take part in

The UN says the violence suffered by civilians in Iraq "remains staggering", with at least 18,800 killed between 1 January 2014 and 31

A Libyan unity government was formed yesterday under a UN-brokered deal aimed at ending years of bloodshed, but it was unclear

Israeli forces yesterday hunted for a Palestinian suspect accused of breaking into a West Bank home and stabbing a Jewish woman to