Despite a two-year campaign, Egypt is facing an increasingly powerful and sophisticated insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula and the jihadist hotbed is emerging as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's biggest challenge.

The arid and rugged peninsula bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip has long been a breeding ground for militancy, especially from Bedouin tribes who have complained of being marginalized by Cairo.

The buildings that will become U.S. and Cuban embassies in their neighbor's respective capitals on July 20 have seen over five decades of Cold War protests, provocations and strains.

Now, with the longtime enemies finally putting aside all that enmity, Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro have exchanged letters agreeing to restore full diplomatic ties.

No matter what the political outcome of the current Greek debt crisis, in practical terms Greece will find it very difficult to turn its back on the euro.

On Sunday the Greek nation goes to the polls in what European leaders say is effectively a vote on whether or not to stay in the eurozone.

Iran's president has been pursuing a nuclear agreement for two years but even if a deal is reached Hassan Rouhani and his government will soon face mounting political pressure at home.

Having sought to end the nuclear crisis -- and with it the international sanctions that have paralyzed Iran's economy -- Rouhani's fate is often seen as inextricably linked to the negotiations.

The Islamic State group's "caliphate" enters its second year Monday with the jihadists expanding their territory in Syria and Iraq and their global reach by claiming attacks in Tunisia and Kuwait.

The extremist group headed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced on June 29, 2014 that it was reviving a form of Islamic government known as the "caliphate", pledging it would "remain and expand".

By snubbing a bailout deal and slapping capital controls on its banks Greece has set a course into choppy, uncharted waters that could lead to fresh economic upheaval and a euro exit.

After five months of torturous negotiations and just days away from a default, Greece's radical leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras threw the political equivalent of a curve ball by calling a referendum on the bailout proposals for next Sunday.

Just three months after an attack on the National Bardo Museum, Tunisia is reeling from an even deadlier attack on tourists, raising questions about its ability to counter the jihadist threat.

Friday's assault by a Tunisian student at a popular resort at Port El Kantaoui that killed 38 people illustrates the complexity of the challenges ahead for Tunisia four years after its revolution.

Saudi Arabia is pursuing its own nuclear projects and building alliances to counter Iran, which is days away from a potential atomic deal Riyadh fears could further destabilize the region.

The United States and other major powers will hold weekend talks with Iran in Vienna, aiming to finalize by Tuesday an agreement to prevent Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon.

Larry King's back on the air, beaming his high-octane brand of talk to households around the world. Where can you catch him? Kremlin-backed TV.

Moscow wants you to pay better attention to what it's saying, and to better reach your eyes and ears it's spending around a half-billion dollars a year and carrying top-name talent like King and former governor and professional wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura.

Parading across a desert base, hundreds of Sunni tribesmen who graduated a crash-training course stood ready to take on the Islamic State group on behalf of a government that many believed left them to die at the hands of the extremists.

Among them were tribesmen who watched as Iraqi forces abandoned Ramadi a month ago to the Islamic State group. Their suspicions toward the Shiite-led government in Baghdad could be seen as they pushed forward to receive their first government salary in 18 months, with one brandishing a Kalashnikov assault rifle as he neared the front.