Middle East News

In this Saturday, September 7, 2013, file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a Syrian military solider fires a heavy machine gun during clashes with rebels in Maaloula village, northeast of the capital Damascus, Syria.

President Barack Obama marked the end of Hanukkah with not one, but two receptions at the White House on Thursday.

It's sometimes called "highway hypnosis" or "white-line fever," and it's familiar to anyone who has ever driven long distances along a monotonous route.

Speaking to The Associated Press in Bethlehem, where he is shooting the band's latest music video, Rene Perez said Puerto Ricans were linked to Palestinians "because we are a colony of the United States.

Jameis Winston will learn whether he faces prosecution Thursday when a state attorney finally announces the results of an intensive investigation into sexual assault allegations against the Florida State quarterback.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, holds a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary Of State John Kerry on Thursday in Jerusalem, Israel.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Israel's security is a necessary part of its ongoing peace negotiations with Palestinians, a process he described as making some progress.

Smoke rises after an explosion at the Defense Ministry complex in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013.

Iraqi police stormed a mall in a northern city that gunmen used to launch an attack on a nearby police station, killing three militants and ending an hourslong standoff as attacks elsewhere left seven dead Thursday, authorities said.

DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates says Iran's top diplomat has held talks with the U.S.-allied nation's leader in a further sign of Tehran's outreach to its Gulf Arab neighbors.

Policemen and soldiers inspect damaged vehicles of security forces that were targeted by an attack, leaving two senior officers wounded on December 2, 2013 in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region's second-biggest city.

KABUL, Afghanistan - It's painful for US soldiers to hear discussions and watch movies about modern wars when the dialogue is full of obsolete slang, like "chopper" and "GI."

Pope Francis called for prayers Wednesday for 12 Orthodox nuns reportedly taken by force from their convent in Syria by rebels.

While holding the record for the least-productive and most unpopular Congress in memory, the Republican-controlled House took a sudden turn Tuesday and passed by voice vote a 10-year extension of a federal gun control law.

Mohammed Ishtayeh, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also says he believes U.S. mediation is "unbalanced" in favor of Israel and that other world powers must join the talks.

A senior commander for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah was gunned down Wednesday outside his home in southern Beirut, security officials said.

It faces resistance, however, from regional rival Saudi Arabia. With the 12-nation cartel expected to keep production levels on hold, attention will turn to Iran's bid to reassert itself in the group.

Turkish imam and rock musician Ahmet Muhsin Tuzer gives the call to prayer on Feb. 11, 2013, in Kas.

Cranes are lifting trailers into place and tents are being packed away as international aid workers rush to winterize a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan - trying to avoid a repeat of last year when three days of torrential rain turned the massive site into a muddy swamp.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's widow says extensive investigation by French scientists has ruled out poisoning by radioactive polonium.