The Taliban on Saturday refused to resume long-stalled peace talks with the Afghan government, reiterating their preconditions for holding dialogue, a statement said.

"We want to repeat our stance once again that until the occupation of foreign troops ends, until Taliban names are removed from international blacklists and until our detainees are released, talks will yield no results," it said.

Two Syrian opposition monitoring groups say rebel fighters have seized the Syrian side of a major Syria-Iraq border crossing from the Islamic State group.

Fighters from the New Syria Army militia took the Tanaf border crossing Friday night, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

For most Russians, there's little not to like about their country's military operation in Syria.

The airstrikes have demonstrated Russia's might, turned the course of the war and made sure that Russia is once again treated as a world power on a par with the United States. And all at little cost.

If there was any doubt about how Nina Simone's family and fans feel about the upcoming biopic starring Zoe Saldana, recent social media posts make it clear they are not pleased.

A fresh round of criticism for the film erupted after the trailer and poster for "Nina" were unveiled Wednesday.

Lebanon's trash collection crisis, which sent thousands protesting into the streets last summer, is now in its eight month with still no resolution in sight. Though it has prompted political debates and occasional heated discussions, Lebanese doctors and medical professionals are increasingly alarmed by its effect on health.

At the emergency room at the Sacre Coeur hospital outside Beirut, doctors say they are seeing a spike in severe respiratory diseases and that it's tied to the ongoing trash disaster.

Elusive street artist Banksy may have been unmasked — by mathematics.

Scientists have applied a type of modeling used to track down criminals and map disease outbreaks to identify the graffiti artist, whose real name has never been confirmed.

Bobbi Kristina Brown's face was immersed in water and she was intoxicated with a mix of marijuana, alcohol, morphine and other drugs — both conditions that caused pneumonia that led to her death, a medical examiner said in a statement released Friday morning.

Friday's revelations come after months of speculation about how she died, including a wrongful death lawsuit filed by her estate against her partner, Nick Gordon, accusing him of giving her a "toxic cocktail" and putting her face down in water. The medical examiner classified the manner of death as "undetermined" because investigators could not determine if it was accidental or intentional, or if it was a suicide or homicide.

Kurdish rebels on Friday detonated a car bomb near a police station in southeastern Turkey, killing two police officers and seriously wounding at least four people, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The attack targeted the traffic police station and lodgings in the town of Nusaybin, bordering Syria, where the security forces are battling militants linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

A recent, 14-year dry spell in the Middle East was the worst drought in the past 900 years, according to a new NASA study released this week.

NASA's researchers examined records of rings of trees in several Mediterranean countries to determine patterns of dry and wet years across a span of 900 years. They concluded that the years from 1998 to 2012 were drier than any other period, and that the drought was likely caused by humans.

Iran's deputy foreign minister said on Thursday that a decision by the Saudi-led bloc of Gulf states to label Hizbullah a terrorist organization is a "mistake."

Iranian state TV quoted Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying the Gulf Cooperation Council's move was a "new mistake" that would undermine peace in the region and the unity of Lebanon.