Lebanon's new government, made up of members nominated by Hizbullah and its allies, got down to business Wednesday, a day after it was formed. Questions arose immediately about its ability to halt a spiral of economic and political collapse.

As the government headed by Hassan Diab held its first meeting, protesters briefly closed off major roads in and around the capital Beirut, denouncing it as a rubber stamp for the same political parties they blame for widespread corruption. Later on Wednesday, a few hundred protesters from northern and eastern Lebanon engaged in violent confrontations with security forces in downtown Beirut.

Lebanon is facing its worst economic crisis since its civil war, an unprecedented protest movement and mounting international pressure for reform, yet under-fire politicians have yet to form a government.

This raises questions about what is holding up the creation of a new cabinet and what comes next for a crumbling country that can ill-afford delays.

A peaceful solution to Libya's protracted conflict remains uncertain despite an international agreement struck in Germany, analysts say, as a fragile ceasefire between warring factions brought only a temporary truce.

On Sunday in Berlin, world leaders committed to ending all foreign meddling in Libya and to uphold a weapons embargo as part of a broader plan to end the country's conflict.

Yes, it's a trial — but the Senate's impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump won't resemble anything Americans have seen on Court TV.

In Trump's trial, the Senate will serve as both judge and jury. The Republicans who control the chamber can forge their own rules if they have enough votes. And the presiding judge is the top one in America, yet can be decisively overruled.

Smashed doors, dusty tables and 12 years of unread mail -- welcome to the defunct Palestinian parliament.

It has been more than a decade since the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) last met, due to infighting between Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah and Islamists Hamas.

Dmitry Medvedev, who has lost his post as prime minister following the government's resignation, served a single term as president before standing aside to allow Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin in 2012.

Iran on Saturday said its armed forces had "unintentionally" shot down the Ukrainian airliner which crashed outside Tehran.

British MPs finally approved the terms of Brexit on Thursday, paving the way for Britain to leave the European Union on January 31 and for trade talks with Brussels to begin.

Iran's missile strikes on U.S. troop bases in Iraq were a measured first response to Washington's assassination of a top commander, but are unlikely to be the last act in what could be a long and asymmetrical revenge campaign, experts say.

With an outpouring of emotion in Iran over the killing of General Qasem Soleimani in an American drone strike, Tehran wanted to appear decisive to calm a clamor for revenge, without provoking President Donald Trump to unleash all-out armed conflict.

Portraits of Qasem Soleimani have been carried aloft in rallies from Gaza to Yemen, raising the prospect that his violent death will elevate him as an icon of anti-American resistance.