Algeria has agreed to take in 41 Syrian refugees trapped since mid-April in a desert area that borders neighboring Morocco, the foreign ministry said on Thursday. The decision comes two days after the UN refugee agency said the plight of the refugees -- who include a pregnant woman -- was...

Egypt defended on Thursday a new law on non-governmental organizations that three U.S. Republican senators have called "draconian" and a sign of "a growing crackdown on human rights and peaceful dissent". UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein also criticized the law,...

A meeting between the two men who run Russia and Saudi Arabia's oil empires spoke volumes about the new relationship between the energy superpowers. It was the first time that Rosneft boss Igor Sechin and Saudi Aramco chief Amin Nasser had held a formal, scheduled meeting - going beyond the...

Thousands of people have demonstrated in northern Morocco for the sixth straight night as protesters demand the release of the leader of a popular movement in the neglected Rif region. The Rif has been shaken by social unrest since the death in October of fishmonger Mouhcine Fikri, 31, who...