Lebanon marks the first anniversary on Saturday of a non-sectarian protest movement that has rocked the political elite but has yet to achieve its goal of sweeping reform. A whirlwind of hope and despair has gripped the country in the year since protests began with an economic crisis and a...

Israel, which was angered in February by the UN listing companies with activities in illegal Israeli settlements, has granted no visas to UN rights staff for months, the agency said Friday. "Visa applications have not been formally refused, but the Israeli authorities have abstained from...

An exiled Iran opposition group said Friday it had uncovered a secret new military site run by a shadowy defence ministry research unit which they fear is being used for testing in the Iranian nuclear programme. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said that work on the site in...

At the plush Armani hotel in the shadow of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, a rabbi switches on the stoves at what is billed as Dubai's first kosher restaurant. With the ink still fresh on the United Arab Emirates' landmark normalisation accord with Israel, restaurants and...