As Yemen continued its military offensive against Shiite rebels in the turbulent northern region of Saada, the area's civilians continued to bear the brunt as aid agencies warned Tuesday of a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation. Aid groups, like the International Committee of the... More 
The Dead Sea, Lebanon’s Jeita Grotto and the United Arab Emirates’ Bu Tinah Shoals were among 28 world-famous natural landmarks named as finalists Tuesday in a global poll to pick seven new Wonders of Nature. The finalists were selected from among more than 440 participants vying for a spot... More
At least 156 people have been killed in the worst case of ethnic unrest the capital of China's northwestern region of Xinjiang has seen in years, prompting the government to shut down the Internet Monday and blame exiled Muslim separatists. Hundreds of rioters have been arrested, the... More
The world bid farewell to Music legend Michael Jackson on Tuesday with tears, laughter and performances at his public memorial service, which was dedicated to celebrating the life of the world's only King of Pop. Thousands gathered outside the Los Angeles Staples Center and an estimated... More
Hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won on Saturday a landslide win in Iran's presidential race, crushing his moderate rival and Western hopes of change in the Islamic republic. Ahmadinejad won Iran's most hotly contested presidential election with 63 percent of the vote, Interior... More
North Korea fired a long-range rocket on Sunday, provoking international outrage and sending the U.N. Security Council into a three-hour emergency session that did not result in any committment beyond continuing consultations. The reclusive communist state, which has tested a nuclear device... More
After four turbulent years that threatened to send Lebanon into its worst crisis since its 1975-90 civil war, Lebanese head to the polls on June 7 in a legislative election that is expected to be a tight contest that will determine the shape of parliament and government for the next four years.... More
American President Barack Hussein Obama ended his Middle East tour and headed to Germany Thursday after he addressed the Muslim world from a tightly secured Cairo where he quoted from Islam's Holy Book and stressed the United States was not in competition with Islam in a bid to heal the rift... More
Despite the risk of swine flu, known to spread in overcrowded places, Muslim pilgrims seem undeterred in their resolve to perform umrah, a non-obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca that takes place throughout the five months before Ramadan, with travel agencies reporting an increase in religious tourism... More
Since its early days hip hop has been linked to Islam, but despite dozens of American rappers embracing the religion many of them often continued to use lyrical content that preaches a life of materialism. In recent years, however, Muslim rappers have stepped away from the mainstream to use their... More
As the International Criminal Court issued its arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur the international community's opinion split on how justice is administered and why Sudan was singled out from alleged crimes such as Gaza, Iraq and Colombia. Arab... More
Even as expatriates in the United Arab Emirates are losing their jobs and considering leaving in the next year, the majority considers the emirate better than other countries they could live in and a significant number are considering starting their own businesses, according to a survey released... More
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and hawkish ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu were locked in a battle for power on Wednesday after a photo-finish election that could send peace talks into limbo. Livni's centrist Kadima party won 28 seats in the 120-member parliament, just one ahead of... More
A growing chorus of human rights and aid groups are condemning Israel’s war on Gaza, with Save the Children warning Thursday that pregnant women and children suffer the brunt of the offensive. Israeli human rights and aid groups criticized Israel Wednesday for war crimes in Gaza and warned that... More
Piracy off the coast of Somalia is seen as a rapidly growing problem that world governments are struggling to solve, however pirates view themselves as & uot;coastguards & uot; that protect their waters from illegal fishing and waste dumping, which they say has been overlooked by the west for... More
More than two million Muslims from around the world flocked to the holy city of Mecca Saturday to start hajj, the world's largest annual pilgrimage, which unites Islam's followers in mass religious devotion and duty. Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and is an obligation that... More
Arab and Muslim Americans entered the calculus of the 2008 presidential race in an unprecedented way with the candidacy of Barak Obama, who has attracted vastly more support from the two communities than his rival John McCain. And with sizeable chunks of the electorate in key battlegrounds... More
Arab television shows are once again caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between the desire to entertain and the desire to control, the desire to be amused and to observe religious traditions. Over the past few months, Arab countries banned several soap operas, dramas, serials and... More
Sitting next to his rickety stall stacked high with seasonal plastic lanterns, a toothy-grinned Am Ahmed waits for a customer at the start of Ramadan, which looked bleak for many Muslim countries throughout the Middle East and Asia. & uot;It's not like it used to be, there are many... More
On July 14, the first sitting head of state was charged with war crimes and genocide by the International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor. ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked the court for an arrest warrant for Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, accusing him of masterminding a... More
Soldiers overthrew Mauritania's first democratically elected president in a coup on Aug. 6 and announced a military junta was taking charge of the northwest African Islamic state. Army forces seized President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi at his palace after he sacked senior army... More
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and his sacked Prime Minister Ismail Haniya both cut their teeth in the politics of the armed struggle against Israel but a generation divides their approach to the Middle East conflict. The 71-year-old Abbas had already been involved in underground... More
On Jan. 20, Israel turned its prolonged blockade of Gaza into a full-scale lockdown, cutting fuel supplies to the territory's main power plant and petrol stations and stopping aid shipments, including food and humanitarian supplies. The move marked a new peak in the ongoing crisis in the... More
Since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in February 2005, the whole political system in Lebanon has almost come to a standstill. To add salt to injury, regional and international affiliations resulted in a dangerous process of polarization on the local... More
Some 3,000 Turkish PKK fighters are based in northern Iraq and launch attacks on security and civilian targets in Turkish territory. A few thousand PKK rebels are also believed to be inside Turkey. Clashes have resumed in recent years and this October, PKK separatists, operating from northern... More
Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by a suicide bomber on Dec. 27, 2007, plunging the nuclear-armed country into one of the worst crises in its 60-year... More
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on Feb. 17, ending a long chapter in the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia. The proclamation was made by leaders of the breakaway province's 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority, including former guerrillas who fought for independence in a 1998-99 war... More
Iraq marked the fifth anniversary of the United States-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and plunged the nation of 26 million people into chaos and bloodshed. On March 20, 2003, U.S. warplanes dropped the first bombs on Baghdad to announce its “shock and awe” invasion that, within three... More
