
AFGHANISTAN
NATO to keep 12k troops in Afghanistan
NATO is to keep some 12,000 troops in Afghanistan for an extra year in 2016.

NATO is to keep some 12,000 troops in Afghanistan for an extra year in 2016.

American writer Daniel Patrick Welch has called the Pentagon a sort of “Ministry of Truth” which pursues "a campaign of public relations and outright lies."

Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah is hailed for the role he played in facilitating the release of 16 Lebanese servicemen from the al-Nusra captivity.

NATO says it is mulling the augmentation of Turkey's air defenses.

German automaker Volkswagen's sales in US market plunge 25 percent in November over the company’s emissions cheating scandal.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter says the United States is "prepared to expand" the role of Special Operations Forces in Syria.

Moscow may temporarily freeze work on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project.

A senior Iranian official says Iran and Lebanon play a leading role in establishing regional peace.

Syria militants will leave the last district of Homs under their control.

A Turkish court has rejected an appeal against the detention of two top investigative journalists.

The 37th flotilla of the Iranian Navy sets off for high seas to safeguard naval routes.

A US marine has been convicted of homicide in the killing of a woman in the Philippines.

Mauritania denies its leader ordered early penalties in a football match he became impatient with.

Saudi cleric, Sheikh Nimr, is in 'high spirits' despite reports suggesting that he faces imminent execution, his brother says.

A huge bomb explosion has rocked a metro station in the Turkish strategic city of Istanbul.

China’s manufacturing activity contracts at its fastest rate in more than three years.

The Iraqi army launches a new operation to liberate the strategic city of Ramadi.

The headquarters of the state-funded BBC and surrounding buildings in central London have been evacuated over bomb scare.