The Iraqi army stormed to the southern edge of Falluja under U.S. air support on Monday and captured a police station inside the city limits, launching a direct assault to retake one of the main strongholds of Islamic State militants.

• May 30, 2016

Oil prices edged lower toward $49 a barrel on Monday as Iraq raised its crude exports target ahead of an OPEC meeting while Canadian production was set to restart after huge wildfires.

• May 30, 2016

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has agreed to attend an event in Russia next month, a Commission spokeswoman said on Monday, in a move that may stir debate on the EU's fraught relations with Moscow.

• May 30, 2016

Jordan's King Abdullah appointed veteran politician Hani Mulqi as caretaker prime minister on Sunday after dissolving parliament as its four-year term nears its end, and charged him with organising new elections by October.

• May 29, 2016

Servicemen from the U.S.-led coalition were seen near the front line of a new offensive in northern Iraq launched on Sunday by Kurdish peshmerga forces that aims to retake a handful of villages from Islamic State east of their Mosul stronghold.

• May 29, 2016

Forces loyal to Libya's U.N.-backed unity government say they aim to encircle Sirte, Islamic State's stronghold in Libya, having moved to within 15 km (10 miles) of the city center.

• May 29, 2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned Romania and Poland they could find themselves in the sights of Russian rockets because they are hosting elements of a U.S. missile shield that Moscow considers a threat to its security.

• May 28, 2016

The world community has yet to find an adequate response to cultural destruction as shown by the deliberate wrecking of ancient sites in Syria and Mali by Islamist radicals, the head of the UN's cultural organization said.

• May 28, 2016