A major thunderstorm hit the Gulf region on Thursday night with heavy rain lashing parts of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the Saudi capital Riyadh, which was the scene of major flooding earlier this week. Earlier climate forecasts compelled the...

Dozens of refugees from Syria detained in an Egyptian police station began a hunger strike on Friday to draw attention to their plight, several of them said. The United Nations refugee agency confirmed that 52 refugees of Syrian and Palestinian origin had...
Pope Francis on Thursday said the Catholic Church will not accept a Middle East without Christians, who often find themselves forced to flee areas of conflict and unrest in the region. "We will not resign ourselves to imagining a Middle East without Christians," he said after meeting...