BAGHDAD — When it comes to peace and stability in Iraq, there may be no greater obstacle to success than Anbar province, a vast region of desert and scrubland stretching west from Baghdad. A huge sandy expanse dissected by a major highway, an oil pipeline and the Euphrates River, Anbar …

KHARTOUM — Food supplies are critically low in many parts of southern Sudan, exposing thousands of people to starvation, the region’s leaders and humanitarian agencies have warned. They blame the looming crisis on a poor harvest, the return of thousands of refugees and the inability of humanitarian agencies to provide …

TEHRAN (AFP) — Two high-profile candidates for Iran’s presidency raised the stakes in their campaigns Wednesday, both evoking the taboo topic of relations with the United States and one challenging the status of the Islamic republic’s supreme leader. “We have to democratise the political system,” said Mohammad Reza Khatami, the …