U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's planned visit to Turkey got off to a rocky start Wednesday when Ankara criticized his decision to raise the issue of religious freedom.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was in Egypt Sunday hoping to ease tensions following the publishing of controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that sparked ire in the Arab world.

Kamala Harris on Saturday shattered barriers to become the first woman vice president and, in a symbolism-heavy victory speech, told girls she would not be the last.

Lakhdar Bouregaa, a highly respected veteran of Algeria's war of independence against France and a key figure in an anti-regime protest movement, has died at the age of 87.

Villagers from the southern Indian ancestral home of U.S. vice-president hopeful Kamala Harris prayed Tuesday for her victory in an election on the other side of the globe as polls opened.

It doesn't have the malls of Dubai or the mega-projects of Abu Dhabi, but the conservative Gulf emirate of Sharjah has carved out a role for itself as a cultural capital.

The Vatican has sought to tamp down discord over Pope Francis' backing last month for same-sex civil unions, reiterating that he did not question the Catholic dogma of marriage being between a man and a woman.

Several French Muslim leaders on Monday condemned calls for boycotts of French goods in Muslim countries as "unjustified" and accused those leading the charge of "using Islam for political gain".

Veteran British journalist Robert Fisk, one of the best-known Middle East correspondents who spent his career reporting from the troubled region and won accolades for challenging mainstream narratives has died after a short illness, his employer said Monday. He was 74.

Fisk, whose reporting often sparked controversy, died Sunday at a hospital in Dublin, shortly after he was taken there after falling ill at his home in the Irish capital. The London Independent, where he had worked since 1989, described him as the most celebrated journalist of his era.

Under the autumn Iraqi sun, Abbas Abbud expertly scrambles up the ragged trunk of the palm tree. His mission? Picking the juicy dates overhead, and keeping this ancient profession alive.