Five people were injured on Thursday when a bomb exploded near a bus in the Egyptian capital, two days after a blast at a police station in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura killed 14 people. The explosion happened in the Nasr City neighbourhood, in front of Al-Azhar...
If there was any hope left that the generals who overthrew Egypt's elected president six months ago might ease the state's crackdown on dissent, a suicide bomb that ripped through a police station on Tuesday may have destroyed it. The most populous Arab country enters the new year with...
A powerful car bomb explosion has rocked a police headquarters in an Egyptian city north of Cairo, killing at least 14 people and injuring 120, officials said. The interim government accused the Muslim Brotherhood of orchestrating the attack, branding it a "terrorist...
At least 32 Nusra Front gunmen were killed in east Lebanon in a weekend ambush sprung by Hezbollah fighters, a senior security source said Monday, adding that a member of the Lebanese group was also killed in ensuing fighting. The ambush took place early Saturday...
Egypt's public prosecutor charged former President Mohamed Mursi and 35 other top Islamists on Wednesday with conspiring with foreign groups to commit terrorist acts in Egypt, in a case that could result in their execution. Declaring it "the biggest case of conspiracy in the history of...
Dubai government has increased the salaries of public sector employees by up to 100%, it announced on Tuesday. Under a 'nature of work allowance', employees of 32 government departments will receive salary hikes between 30-100%, depending on their current role....
Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel reaffirmed US military ties with Qatar on Tuesday, during a regional tour aimed at shoring up Gulf alliances amid disagreements over policy on Iran and Syria. Hagel met Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and his minister of state for defence, Major...
The Palestinian Hamas movement has "resumed" relations with Iran after a temporary falling out over the Syrian conflict, a senior member of the Islamist movement said Monday. "Relations between Hamas and Iran have resumed," Mahmud al-Zahar told reporters at a news conference in Gaza,...
With its decades-old US alliance strained over the Syria war and a nuclear deal with Iran, Saudi Arabia is calling on the Gulf monarchies to unite for their own self-defence. US Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel has assured Gulf states that the agreement struck between major powers and...
The Lebanese Communication Group, parent of the Lebanese Shiite party Hezbollah’s Al Manar Channel and Al Nour Radio, has officially apologised to Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority (IAA) for its past coverage of the country, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) has reported. The...
The Syrian crisis and the Iranian nuclear accord will take the center stage in discussions Tuesday among the heads of government of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council in Kuwait. The topic of peace between Israel and Palestine will also be on the agenda besides a plan to form a strong...
An appeals court in Egypt on Saturday ordered 14 women jailed after a protest to be freed, reducing 11-year prison terms to a one-year suspended sentence. The women's supporters in the Alexandria courtroom chanted "God is great" as the judge...
The 193-member U.N. General Assembly elected Jordan to the U.N. Security Council on Friday to replace Saudi Arabia, which rejected its two-year term in protest at the council's failure to end the war in Syria and act on other Middle East issues. Saudi Arabia was elected in October to...
Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah accused Bashar al-Assad's regime of committing "systematic crimes" against people in Syria. Al-Attiyah also blamed the international community for not putting an immediate end to the daily...
The president of the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday accepted an invitation to visit Iran, the WAM state news agency said, as Tehran looks to mend ties with Gulf states. The Sunni monarchies of the Gulf, particularly Saudi Arabia, have long viewed Shiite Iran as a regional rival and...
A senior commander for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah was gunned down Wednesday outside his home in southern Beirut, security officials said. Hezbollah blamed Israel for the killing, something officials there quickly denied. Hezbollah immediately announced the death of...
Prominent Egyptian-born Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi has resigned from Al-Azhar's Senior Scholars Council, the prestigious Cairo-based religious institution's most authoritative body. In a Monday statement, al-Qaradawi said his resignation aimed to "register...
An international watchdog group says its annual survey shows the most violent nations in the Middle East are perceived to be the region’s most corrupt and are getting worse. Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks...
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar Bin Sultan in Moscow on Tuesday, Al Arabiya News Channel reported. Details of the planned meeting are not immediately available, but the talks are likely to focus on the...
Lebanese authorities decided Monday to place Tripoli under army control for six months after a wave of sectarian killings linked to Syria's war left 11 dead in the main northern city. The decision was taken at a meeting between President Michel Sleiman, army chief General Jean Kahwaji...
