World News

Amid jubilation Saturday over the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from captivity by the Taliban, senior Republicans on Capitol Hill said they were troubled by the means by which it was accomplished, which was a deal to release five Afghan detainees from the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Russia demanded on Thursday that the Ukrainian government stop its military operation against pro-Russian separatists and urged the United States and European Union to press Kiev to avert a “catastrophe” in the former Soviet republic.

The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan on Thursday created an economic union that intends to boost cooperation between the ex-Soviet neighbors, a pact which was at the source of the crisis in Ukraine.

World food prices rose in the first quarter of the year for the first time since their all-time high in August 2012, driven by rising demand in China, drought in the United States and unrest in Ukraine.

An Israeli attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities is not a relevant option as long as Tehran continues negotiating with world powers over its atom program, Israeli nuclear experts said Thursday.

A senior Iranian military commander on Wednesday said the global US empire was “coming to an end,” as its footholds around the globe were growing weaker.

The regime of President Bashar Assad has helped Christians form militias in Syria by sending advisers and weapons to stave off raids by Islamic fighters linked to Al-Qaida.

A Venezuela sanctions bill that will be debated on the House floor on Wednesday would apply more pressure on the Obama administration to take action in the crisis that will soon enter its fourth month, observers say.

China has deployed three nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines to a naval base in the South China Sea, according to a recent photo of the vessels that appeared on the Internet.

For the first time in the bloody civil war tearing the country apart, an American citizen carried out a suicide bombing in Syria.

In a much-anticipated speech delineating his foreign policy for the remainder of his term in office, US President Barack Obama said Wednesday that his administration’s refocus toward international cooperation provided a new opportunity to resolve tensions over Iran’s nuclear program. While warning that the odds of success are “still long” in getting Iran to give up its nuclear weapons development, he said that “for the first time in a decade, we have a very real chance of achieving a breakthrough agreement.”

The State Department Tuesday urged all U.S. citizens to immediately leave Libya due to security concerns.

The Jobar Synagogue was one of the holiest Jewish sites in Syria and contained priceless historical artifacts. Now it’s destroyed — and the opposition says Assad is to blame.

Former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was on course for a sweeping victory in the country’s presidential election on Wednesday, according to early provisional results.

Four of the kidnapped Nigerian girls being held by Boko Haram militants have escaped, a local education official has said.

Western governments expect too much from Iran in negotiations over its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday amid the stalled diplomatic effort.

Republican lawmakers and foreign policy experts blasted President Barack Obama’s announcement on Tuesday that he would fully withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016 as a move that could embolden the Taliban and eventually lead to a resurgence in violence.

A convoy of inspectors from the international watchdog overseeing the dismantling of Syria’s chemical weapons program came under fire on Tuesday in Syria but all staff members were safe, the organization said.

A combination of surging population growth in Christian Africa and population decline in Europe could signal the decline of atheism, a world-renowned geneticist has claimed.

A pregnant woman was stoned to death by her own family in front of a Pakistani high court on Tuesday for marrying the man she loved.