A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may soon be impossible, France warned on Friday as it held an international conference to revive the quest for a deal despite Israel's warning that the effort is doomed to failure.

• June 3, 2016

Thousands of U.S.-backed fighters opened a major new front in Syria's war, launching an offensive to drive Islamic State out of a swathe of northern Syria it uses as a logistics base, and were reported on Wednesday to be making swift progress.

• June 1, 2016

Benjamin Netanyahu has turned to a 14-year-old Arab peace plan in trying to project a softer image internationally for a new governing coalition in Israel widely seen as more hardline toward Palestinian statehood.

• May 31, 2016

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

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

Pakistan has banned advertisements for contraceptive products on television and radio over concern that they expose inquisitive children to the subject of sex, local media reported on Saturday.

• May 28, 2016