More than 250 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons have received a rapturous welcome from relatives and friends in Ramallah, on the West Bank.

Iraq’s main Sunni Arab bloc has ended its boycott of the Shi’ite-dominated parliament, officials said on Thursday, in a positive sign for the country’s faltering attempts at national reconciliation.

KABUL (Reuters) – Iranian arms are entering Afghanistan and reaching Taliban insurgents in such quality and quantity that the Tehran government must know about it, the U.S. ambassador to Kabul said on Tuesday.