Behind a veil of secrecy, at least 30 journalists have been kidnapped or have disappeared in Syria — held and threatened with death by extremists or taken captive by gangs seeking ransom. The widespread seizure of journalists is unprecedented, and has been largely unreported...

Southern districts that have been under rebel control for more than a year are falling one by one, Damascus-based activist Rami al-Sayyed said to Reuters, referring to gains by Assad's forces around the capital. Zaman Alwasl sources assured that mass mobilization is taking...

Sexual harassment, high rates of female genital cutting and a surge in violence and Islamist feeling after the Arab Spring uprisings have made Egypt the worst country in the Arab world to be a woman, a poll of gender experts showed on Tuesday. Discriminatory laws and a spike in trafficking...

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad captured a suburb of Damascus on Wednesday, part of a broader advance that has brought him major gains south of the capital before proposed international peace talks, activists said. The fall of the rebel-held town of Hujaira, next to a...