The speaker of Iraq's parliament narrowly escaped death on Monday when a roadside bomb exploded near his convoy close to the northern city of Mosul, his office said. Usama al-Nujaifi, one of Iraq's most senior Sunni Muslim politicians, was visiting al-Salam area south of Mosul when...

  Noble Energy Inc  ( NBL.N ) slashed the risks to its colossal Israeli  natural gas project by selling a stake to Australia's largest oil producer and sealing a crucial supply deal with a Palestinian power company in one of the world's political flash points....

Presidential panel agrees to transform the country into "federal state of six regions", state news agency reports. A presidential panel has agreed to transform Yemen into a six-region federation as part of its political transition, state news agency Saba reported. The final...

An Arab-Iranian poet and human rights activist, Hashem Shaabani, has been executed for being an "enemy of God" and threatening national security, according to local human rights groups. Shaabani and a man named Hadi Rashedi were hanged in unidentified prison on January 27, ...