BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraq’s ruling Shiite Islamist parties struck a last-minute deal to patch up differences on Thursday and agreed to register as a united bloc for December 15 polls where they face a new Sunni Arab alliance. But in a flare-up likely to fuel mistrust between Iraq’s two main …

Israel launched missile strikes in Gaza on Tuesday, targeting buildings it said were used by fighters in response to renewed Palestinian rocket attacks on the Jewish state. The flare-up of violence — one of the worst since Israel quit the Gaza Strip last month — followed Israel’s killing of a …

VIENNA (AFP) — The United States and the European Union will hold off taking Iran before the UN Security Council over its nuclear programme until they get Russia to back them and may even allow Tehran to do some nuclear fuel work, diplomats told AFP. “If the Russians don’t come …