The spiritual heart of Shiite Islam and a hub for religious tourism in Iraq is being badly hit as sanctions against neighbouring Iran have resulted in fewer pilgrims with less money to spend. Business leaders, shopkeepers and hotel owners in Najaf, site of a shrine to a revered figure in...

Tens of thousands took to the streets of Tehran on Saturday evening to celebrate the election of moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani as president, with chanting pro-reform slogans and demanding more freedom. Large crowds were converging in main streets and squares, as security forces and police...

  Washington’s decision to arm Syria’s Sunni Muslim rebels has plunged America into the great Sunni-Shia conflict of the Islamic Middle East, entering a struggle that now dwarfs the Arab revolutions which overthrew dictatorships across the region. For the...

Pakistani police stormed a hospital that had been taken over by gunmen Saturday, freeing hostages and ending a five-hour standoff that began with a bombing just outside the emergency room and left five dead, officials said. The attack in Quetta, capital of restive Baluchistan province, came...