AP FACT CHECK: Trump's compulsive claims of 'biggest' ever

WASHINGTON (AP) — Size matters to President Donald Trump. So much that he exaggerates continually, sometimes spectacularly, the size of what he does. Just as his tax cuts are far from the biggest in history, the economy isn't the best ever and his election victory in 2016 was no landslide of historic...

Iran's top leader strikes defiant tone amid month of turmoil

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's supreme leader lashed out at Western countries as he led Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time in eight years, dismissing “American clowns” who he said pretend to support the Iranian nation but want to stick their "poisoned dagger” into its back....

Eleven US troops flown to medical centers after Iran strike

WASHINGTON (AP) — Eleven U.S. troops were flown out of Iraq for evaluation of concussion-like symptoms in the days following an Iranian missile strike that President Donald Trump had said caused no harm to American forces, officials said Friday. The Pentagon's chief spokesman, Jonathan Hoffman, said...

Officials, activists: 2 Iraqi protesters killed in Baghdad

BAGHDAD (AP) — Two protesters were killed and over a dozen wounded in central Baghdad on Friday in renewed violence between anti-government demonstrators and Iraqi security forces, activists and officials said. The deaths followed weeks of calm. Riot police fired tear gas and hurled sound bombs to...

Iraqi officials and activists say 2 anti-government protesters killed and over a dozen wounded in renewed violence

'Days of God': A look at Iran's mounting crises

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's supreme leader says his nation is living through “days of God.” The Islamic Republic has been reeling from one crisis to another, from the targeted killing by the United States of its top general to the Revolutionary Guard's accidental shootdown of a...

Officials: Iraq's top cleric discharged from hospital

KARBALA, Iraq (AP) — Iraq's most powerful cleric was discharged Friday from a hospital following a risky surgery for a fractured bone and returned to his home in southern Iraq, medical officials said. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who turns 90 later this year, fractured a thigh bone when he slipped...

State Dept chided for silence over alleged threats to envoy

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine's announcement on Thursday of an investigation into alleged surveillance of the U.S. ambassador has come as welcome relief to many in America's diplomatic corps, but the State Department's silence on the matter has alarmed a number of current and former diplomats. They are...

Bureaucracy to brutality: New evidence reveals IS hierarchy

BEIRUT (AP) — Documents compiled by a U.S.-based Syrian rights group reveal how Islamic State militants used one of their most powerful bureaucratic bodies to regulate daily life and impose and execute penalties. The new evidence could be used in international prosecutions. The Washington-based Syria...

Iraq's aging top cleric recovering from surgery after fall

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric was recovering Thursday from surgery for a fractured bone following an accident in his home, officials said. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who turns 90 later this year and whose opinion is often sought during troubled times, fractured a thigh bone when he...