Iraq's most influential cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, threw his weight on Friday behind the new prime minister, calling for national unity to contain sectarian bloodshed and an offensive by Islamic State militants that threatens Baghdad.
Politics
Ukraine denounced Russia's dispatch of a humanitarian aid convoy now advancing towards the border as an act of unbounded cynicism serving pro-Russian separatists, and the UN said the death toll in fighting had doubled in the last two weeks to over 2,000.
Nuri al-Maliki stuck to his guns and refused to accept his removal as Iraq's prime minister on Wednesday, but his hold on power was tenuous as Iran's supreme leader, a long-time Maliki ally, publicly backed his replacement.
The threat of renewed war in Gaza loomed on Wednesday as the clock ticked toward the end of a three-day ceasefire with no sign of a breakthrough in indirect talks in Cairo between Israel and the Palestinians.
UK's better information about further education courses and providers is set to help people understand the real-life benefits of qualifications and training.
President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russiais sending an aid convoy to eastern Ukraine despite urgent Western warnings against using humanitarian help as a pretext for an invasion.
President Barack Obama's pledge to fast-track the deportation of migrant children from Central America is out of step with the opinion of a majority of Americans, who say the children should be allowed to stay in the United States, at least for a while.
The United States will monitor actions in the South China Sea to see whether "deescalate steps" are being taken, a senior State Department official said on Monday, a day after Beijing repelled U.S. pressure to rein in its actions in the disputed waters.
Israeli negotiators were due in Cairo on Monday for talks on ending a month-old Gaza war with Palestinian militants, an Israeli government official said, after a new 72-hour truce brokered by Egypt appeared to be holding.
The United States carried out a new round of airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq on Sunday.