The modern Middle East has been plagued by ruinous wars: country versus country, civil wars with internecine and sectarian bloodletting, and numerous eruptions centered on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But never in the last 70 years have they seemed as interconnected as now with Iran and Saudi Arabia vying for regional control, while Israel also seeks to maintain a military supremacy of its own.

By some counts the most popular figure in Iran, Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani is also one of the most powerful in the region and seen as a deadly adversary by the U.S. and its allies.

The small central African state of Burundi has been mired in a bloody crisis since 2015 over President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid to cling to power, the unrest claiming 1,200 lives. 

Here are key developments since U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, with the new U.S. embassy opening Monday amid deadly clashes.

A wave of deadly suicide bombings that have rocked Indonesia's second biggest city Surabaya are linked to local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Here are some questions and answers about JAD:

Iraqis voting across the country in parliamentary polls Saturday insisted they were hoping for change, even as the same old names continued to dominate the ballot papers.

Karl Marx's work "can be explained in five minutes, five hours, in five years or in a half century," wrote French political thinker Raymond Aron.

North and South Korea held their third summit Friday, stirring hopes of peace following years of tensions over the North's nuclear and missile tests. 

From the death of Tito in 1980 to the independence of Kosovo in 2008, here is a timeline of the 1990s Balkans conflicts which tore the former Yugoslavia apart.

Pyongyang's announcement it will halt nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile launches has left experts puzzling over Kim Jong Un's true intentions -- and the extent to which U.S. President Donald Trump deserves credit.

The North Korean leader's surprising move Saturday marks another milestone ahead of his upcoming talks with Trump, who less than a year ago was threatening "fire and fury like the world has never seen" after Kim threatened to strike the U.S. island territory of Guam.