Tehran / AFP Iran’s defence minister poured scorn on Saturday on US Secretary of State John Kerry’s accusations that Tehran is “destabilising” the Middle East, countering that America should get out of the region. The broadside illustrated new tension between Iran and the United States, despite last year’s nuclear deal, with contrasting stances on the conflicts in Yemen and Syria ...

Al-Qaryatain / AFP Bassam Dabbas did not think he would survive to see his hometown of Al-Qaryatain retaken when IS group extremists seized control and captured him and hundreds of other Christians. Now, around eight months later, he stands in the charred remains of the Mar Elian church where he once used to pray, and struggles to digest that he ...

Woe is Brazil. As the summer Olympics approach in August, Latin America’s largest country — with a population of 206 million and an economy that is 40 percent of the region’s total — is caught in a harsh slump and faces a political crisis that could result in its president being impeached. How did this happen? What does it mean? ...