The cold has killed close to 30 children in two months among the civilians who have been fleeing the last jihadist pocket in eastern Syria, the United Nations said yesterday.

Saudi Arabia has ended a sweeping crackdown on corruption ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that it said had recovered more than $106 billion through settlements with scores of senior princes, ministers and top businessmen.

The Kabul government is steadily losing its grip over parts of Afghanistan even as American forces intensify their air campaign against insurgent groups, a US government watchdog said yesterday.

US security aid for the Palestinian Authority is set to dry up today after it declined the money over concerns it could increase its exposure to US anti-terrorism lawsuits.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani slammed his critics yesterday, defending the political achievements of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal and calling the US an "oath-breaker".

A UN judicial expert tasked with investigating the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said yesterday she would present her report by the end of May.

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Al-Hamdallah has tendered his resignation and that of his unity government to President Mahmoud Abbas, he said yesterday, dealing a blow to faltering reconciliation efforts with Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers.

The Islamic State group's once-sprawling "caliphate" has been reduced to a four-square-kilometre pocket of territory in eastern Syria, a senior Kurdish commander said yesterday.

The European Commission has added Saudi Arabia to an EU draft list of countries that pose a threat to the bloc because of lax controls against terrorism financing and money laundering, two sources told Reuters on Friday.

Facebook Inc's WhatsApp is limiting worldwide the number of times a user can forward a message to five, starting on Monday, as the

Arab states at an economic summit in Lebanon on Sunday urged world powers to step up efforts to enable refugees, particularly Syrians, to return home and to ease the burden on host countries.

Halima Akhter was so traumatised and physically weak that she was struggling to walk after landing at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Sunday night. Neither was there any relative to welcome her at the airport.

The Taliban said it met with US officials in Qatar yesterday, in the latest round of talks between the insurgents and Washington aimed at bringing an end to the 17-year war.

Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham yesterday said the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia cannot move forward until Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is "dealt with", without being more specific.

Syria's Kurds yesterday rejected a US proposal for a "security zone" under Turkish control along the Syrian side of the two countries'

A suicide attack killed US servicemen in northern Syria yesterday, causing the United States to suffer its worst combat losses in the war-torn country since 2014 as it prepares to withdraw.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday said that Ankara would set up a "security zone" in northern Syria suggested by US President Donald Trump.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has suspended or reduced aid for some of its Palestinian beneficiaries in the occupied West Bank and

A car bomb exploded near a heavily fortified foreign compound in Kabul yesterday, killing at least four people and wounding 44,

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday that Saudi leaders assured him everyone responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal