Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri stressed on Sunday that discussions to form the next cabinet were ongoing so as to reach an agreement on a structure that guarantees "real partnership." After talks with President Michel Sleiman at the Baabda Palace, Hariri

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir called on the Lebanese on Sunday to trust their nation and to trust each other. Speaking during the weekly Sunday sermon at the summer seat of the Maronite Church in the northern village of Diman,

Malaysia is set to sell Lebanon military equipment next year as part of efforts to modernize the Lebanese Armed Forces, the Malaysian defense minister has said. Malaysia's Bernama news agency reported Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as telling reporters Friday

Lebanon's most influential Shiite cleric issued a religious edict Sunday saying Muslims who have serious concerns about contracting swine flu while performing the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia may stay away this year. However Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah,

Fourteen peacekeeping troops were injured Saturday when scores of protestors confronted soldiers near the southern village of Khirbet Silim. Soldiers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) were accosted by approximately 100 residents

German police arrested three men suspected of attempting to blackmail Susanne Klatten, the country’s wealthiest woman, by claiming they had a secret video of her affair with a Swiss gigolo, prosecutors said on Friday. Munich state prosecutor Thomas Steinkraus-Koch said

July 2009 has become the deadliest month for foreign troops fighting an eight-year war in Afghanistan, as Taliban guerrillas hone their bombing techniques and Westerners struggle in the harsh climate. A month before Afghanistan goes to the polls for the

The mediator in Honduras’ political crisis said he would propose a national reconciliation government during the next round of talks, while ousted President Manuel Zelaya prepared a second bid to return home to reclaim power. Negotiations to end the standoff

A judge in Jerusalem and leaders of the city’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community agreed Friday on a compromise aimed at ending days of rioting by religious protesters, according to Israeli media reports. The protesters were enraged at the arrest of a

India’s premier reassured Parliament on Friday that there would be no resumption of formal peace talks with Pakistan until Islamabad brings those behind last year’s Mumbai’s attacks to justice. "The starting point of any meaningful dialogue with Pakistan is a

Former foes from Sudan’s North-South civil war have agreed on measures to prevent clashes over a contested oil area, but remain divided on other disputes after two days of talks, one of the parties said on Friday. Political tensions are

Kurdish demands to expand their autonomous region in northern Iraq to include the Kirkuk oil fields and other districts threaten to trigger armed conflict, diplomats and analysts warn. Six years after the US-led invasion in which Kurdish rebel groups were

Relatives of victims of the Yemenia air crash marched in the Comoros capital Moroni on Thursday to protest against the lack of information from authorities, more than two weeks after the accident. Around 300 demonstrators marched on the headquarters of

In apparent defiance of Iran's supreme leader, a powerful cleric declared the Islamic Republic in crisis after a disputed election, and tens of thousands of protesters used Friday prayers to stage the biggest show of dissent for weeks. Clashes erupted

Iran’s government has named a former envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog as new head of the country’s Atomic Energy Organization after its head for 12 years resigned, Iranian media reported on Friday. The organization leads a nuclear program that

A spate of attacks in and around Baghdad on Friday killed two people and wounded another 24 as tens of thousands of pilgrims streamed into the Iraqi capital for ceremonies commemorating a revered Shiite saint. Two pilgrims, a man and

Turkey will on Sunday introduce a tight ban on smoking in cafes, restaurants and bars, wielding fines for offenders, in a bid to break a national habit blamed for tens of thousands of deaths each year. The ban is an

Speculation has been rife in recent months that Parliament was on the verge of dissolution by order of the presidency. While the rumor ultimately proved unfounded, local analysts say it reflected a rift between the old and new guards of

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France announced Thursday his country’s support for a ban of international trade in endangered Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna. Sarkozy would be joining a growing call to list the overexploited fish under the Convention on International

Bombs ripped through two luxury hotels in the heart of Indonesia's capital on Friday, killing eight people and wounding dozens in an attack the president said would damage confidence in Southeast Asia's biggest economy. Suicide bombers struck the JW Marriott