Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani departed office on Wednesday, leaving his nephew to reconcile with the central government in Baghdad, with regional neighbors and with rival Kurdish parties after a failed referendum on independence.Nechirvan Barzani, who has served alongside his uncle as prime minister, will now be the main authority figure in the executive of […]

A new Turkish political party founded by a former minister and vocal critic of Tayyip Erdogan could cost the president crucial support and potentially unseat the main opposition, a poll suggested on Wednesday.The survey by prominent polling firm Gezici showed that the Iyi Parti (“Good Party”), founded this month by the breakaway nationalist lawmaker Meral […]

Wednesday marked the final day of France’s state of emergency, imposed after terror attacks in Paris in November 2015 that killed 139 people.The emergency decree will be replaced by a new law which French President Emmanuel Macron said gives authorities the power they need to “deal with terrorist threats while preserving citizens’ rights,” DW reported.“A […]

Hamas handed over control of the Gaza Strip’s borders with Egypt and Israel to the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday in the first key test of a landmark reconciliation accord agreed last month.The handover signaled that Islamist movement Hamas remained firmly committed to a deal that would eventually see it give up full control of the […]

At least eight PKK members were killed in airstrikes carried out by the Turkish Air Force in northern Iraq, military said on Friday. In a statement, the Turkish General Staff said the operation was conducted in Avashin-Basyan region on Thursday, Anadolu reported. The armed members were preparing for attacks on military bases and patrol stations […]

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe says Paris and the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia have reached an agreement on the independence referendum in 2018.Commenting on the news about the referendum on Thursday, Philippe said that Paris and New Caledonia have “plenty of work ahead,” but added that both parties have “mutual trust,” Sputnik reported. […]

Theresa May is facing a major backlash after appointing her chief whip Gavin Williamson as the new defense secretary, with some Conservative MPs “livid” at the promotion.Williamson was appointed on Thursday morning following Sir Michael Fallon’s shock resignation as defense secretary on Wednesday evening after he was implicated in the Westminster sexual harassment scandal, Sky […]

US Air Force B-1 bombers, accompanied by fighter jets from South Korea and Japan, conducted a flyover near the Korean peninsula on Thursday, according to a statement from the US Air Force —a move that has drawn harsh criticism from North Korea ahead of US President Donald Trump’s trip to the region.Two B-1B Lancers from […]

Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate was all but reduced on Friday to a pair of border towns at the Iraq-Syria frontier, where thousands of fighters were believed to be holding out after losing nearly all other territory in both countries.Forces in Syria and Iraq backed by regional states and global powers now appear on the cusp […]

A Spanish judge has ordered that eight dismissed Catalan ministers be jailed while they are investigated on potential charges of sedition, rebellion and embezzlement.The order was issued on Thursday after state prosecutors, who are investigating the leaders over their involvement in the breakaway region’s declaration of independence, requested the ministers be held, Al Jazeera reported.Mireia […]