Here are the people Trump has picked for key positions so far

President-elect Donald Trump is filling key posts in his second administration, and it's shaping up much differently than his first. He's prioritizing loyalists for top jobs. Trump was bruised and hampered by internal squabbles during his initial term in office. Now he appears...

Lebanon's prime minister asks Iran to help secure a cease-fire in Israel-Hezbollah war

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister on Friday asked Iran to help secure a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah and appeared to urge it to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border. ...

Middle East latest: Israeli strikes kill 11 as Lebanon cease-fire efforts appear to gain steam

Israeli strikes killed at least 11 people across Lebanon on Friday — including a mother, father and their three kids in a home — as rescue workers called off their search for survivors a day after an Israeli strike on a civil defense center killed 14 emergency workers and volunteers. ...

CIA employee accused of leaking classified info on Israeli attack plans to face charges in Virginia

WASHINGTON (AP) — A CIA employee accused of leaking classified information assessing Israel's earlier plans to attack Iran was ordered by a federal judge Thursday to face felony charges in Virginia. The FBI arrested Asif William Rahman this week in Cambodia, and he made his first...

Head of UN's nuclear watchdog visits Iran as Mideast wars and Trump's return raise worries

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned Thursday that the “space for negotiation and diplomacy ... is getting smaller” over Iran's advancing atomic program as wars in the Mideast rage on and as President Donald Trump will return to the...

Former VOA Farsi service journalist kills himself in Iran after demanding release of prisoners

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A former journalist with the Voice of America's Farsi service jumped to his death from a building in Iran's capital in protest of the country's supreme leader and an ongoing crackdown on dissent in the Islamic Republic, authorities said Thursday. ...

US government employee charged in leak of classified documents assessing Israel's earlier plans to attack Iran

Iran executes in public a serial rapist convicted in dozens of cases

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian man convicted of raping dozens of women over the past two decades has been executed in public, the country's state media reported on Wednesday. The state-owned IRAN newspaper said Mohammad Ali Salamat was hanged after Iran’s Supreme Court confirmed...

Middle East latest: US won't halt any weapons to Israel over Gaza humanitarian aid situation

Eight international aid groups said Tuesday that Israel has failed to meet U.S. demands for greater humanitarian access to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where hunger experts say the north may already be experiencing famine. However, the Biden administration said Tuesday it won't limit...

What to know about John Ratcliffe, Trump's pick for CIA director

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he would appoint John Ratcliffe to serve as CIA director in his new administration. Here are four things to know about the Republican tapped to lead the U.S. government's premier spy agency: Stint...